The Ontario Energy Board (OBD) has announced new measures that will allow companies to connect charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) to Ontario’s electricity grid.
The measures will see the province’s 58 local utility companies follow the Electric Vehicle Charging Connections Procedure (EVCCP). The procedure implements standardized forms and timelines, allowing providers to deploy chargers across the province.
Ontario’s EVCCP applies to public charging stations along highways, service centres, workplaces, and multi-use residential buildings.
EVs are a popular mode of transportation in Ontario, with more than 150,000 registered vehicles as of December.
“By increasing the accessibility of public EV charging stations across the province, including for rural and northern communities, we are providing more sustainable and convenient travel options for drivers,” Prabmeet Sarkaria, Ontario’s Minister of Transportation, said in a statement.
The new rules will go into effect on May 27th.
The move will increase publicly accessible EV charging stations through several ways. For example, under the EVCCP, EV charging companies are tasked with submitting a request to a utility company to connect their infrastructure to the province’s grid. If everything is in order, the utility company has to issue customers an offer to connect within 60 calendar days.
In instances where a utility company has to add infrastructure to support charging stations, they may ask customers for an additional payment to cover some of those costs. However, the customers could be eligible for a rebate.
EV charging company FLO welcomed the announcement.
“This landmark initiative will help to reduce range anxiety and underscores the critical contributions of utilities to the successful deployment of EV charging infrastructure,” the company said in a statement. “Ontario utilities have emerged as key leaders in the EV space, demonstrating the importance of collaboration between utilities, government, regulatory bodies and private sector companies like FLO.”
Last year, FLO entered a partnership with Telus to enhance EV charging reliability.
Ontario has more than 150,000 registered EVs, including battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The provincial government expects this figure to surpass one million by 2030.
Source: Ontario, FLO Via: Cottage Life
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