Vancouver hearing to enforce new condo parkades to include 10% electric car stalls

[sNyx]

Vancouver condos in electric car charging flap

Vancouver developers may soon be forced to install charging stations for electric cars in new condo parking lots, despite the fact there are fewer than 10 such vehicles in use in the city.

City staff are expected to recommend to council Thursday that stations be installed in at least 10 per cent of new condo parking spaces, along with some city-owned parking lots.

Don Chandler, past president of the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association, says the move is essential.

"You're not going to go out and buy an electric vehicle if you don't have a place to plug it in. And Vancouver in particular is really lacking in that," said Chandler.

City staff argued it is cheaper to install the charging stations now, than to retrofit the stalls later. The cost to install the stations is estimated at $500 to $2,000 per stall.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson has already voiced his support.
"Electric vehicles are being increasingly adopted around the world, and we need to be leaders in supporting them.… Making our city friendly for electric vehicle infrastructure is a major step towards becoming the world’s greenest city."

But not everyone agrees it would be money well spent.
Jeff Fisher, the deputy executive director of the Urban Development Institute, which represents developers, said it may be too early to commit to this emerging technology.

"Let's not forget, a few years ago, many people in Canada and the United States were talking about a hydrogen highway, and we haven't heard much about that. And now it appears to be electric cars," said Fisher.

[inside]

That's a good thing. I sell a brand of car that is currently beta testing thier version of the electric car in the States. As far as I know it takes 12 hours to get a full charge out of a regular outlet, and a specialized outlet intsalled by an electrition gets you a full charge under 4 hours.

I do think it's premature to be forcing devolpers to install outlets now when there has been no standardization between manufactures on how these cars get thier charge.

I think employers in the future will be made to provide charge stations at places of work.

Depending on how you drive it looks like the minimum cost for charging your car at home is just over $500 a year! A heavy user is just obove $1000.

Watch the bailed out car companies to be at the cutting edge of these new designs.

[stephen_c]

infrastructure for inner city electric vehicles (including ebikes) is a good idea.

http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...904334,00.html

excerpts:

In China, electric bicycles are leaving cars in the dust. Last year, Chinese bought 21 million e-bikes, compared with 9.4 million autos. While China now has about 25 million cars on the road, it has four times as many e-bikes. Thanks to government encouragement and a population well versed in riding two wheels to work, the country has become the world's leading market for the cheap, green vehicles, helping to offset some of the harmful effects of the country's automobile boom. Indeed, as engineers around the world scramble to create eco-friendly, plug-in electric cars, China is already ahead of the game. Says Frank Jamerson, a former GM engineer turned electric-vehicle analyst: "What's happening in China is sort of a clue to what the future will be."

Last year Chinese bought about 90% of the 23 million e-bikes sold worldwide.



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