The True Cost of EV Charging in Canada

Different levels of Electric Vehicle charging for all applications has always been a hotly contested debate. Though reports will vary, the answer is ultimately directly correlated with a few variables such as cost, percent of battery remaining, and speed of charging. What’s more, the most important variable seems to be the speed at which a car will charge, regardless of time spent on location. To illustrate why this variable is of utmost importance, we need to learn what options are currently available.

First off, there is a need to define the three types of charging that are available right now. Level one, used for slow charging applications such as overnight or at any location that a car will sit in for a good amount of time. Level two, which is faster than level one, and will most commonly be used at places that some time will be spent but not nearly as much as at home. For example, a level two charger will be useful for industrial applications or workplaces. The last level, number three, is the fastest of all the chargers and mostly used on long drives or for the convenience of charging as fast as possible. This application is best for situations where a charge is needed right away.

Are all chargers available for purchase on all model of car, right now? The answer, unfortunately, is no. In a lot of instances, level 3 chargers are not available at all for certain models of cars. This leaves the only real options as level 1 and 2. Level 1 has clear benefits such as: how easy they are to source, the cost for the unit is minimal, and charging is not very expensive due to the cost reduction of overnight electricity use. Level 2 also has clear benefits as it charges much faster, and generally has more configurable options to suit the customer’s needs.

There was a study conducted by The Journal of Cleaner Production that examined charging outside of the home. In most applications it is free to charge your car at the local grocery store or shopping mall. What about in the future when there will be more EV’s and therefore competition for charging spaces? We may see a cost associated with charging your vehicle when EV’s are adopted on a wider scale. For a business to offset the cost of EV charger installation they will need to collect money from their users. See the chart below:
What this chart is illustrating is that the faster an Electric Vehicle is charged; the more willing people are to pay. If we are to extrapolate this data, we can infer those level 2 or 3 chargers are going to be popping up outside of the home almost exclusively. If a business needs to make their money back and people are willing to pay for faster charging it doesn’t make sense to install level 1 chargers.

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