Long waits for EV chargers may delay Vancouver’s plan for gas stations

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Vancouver council will consider postponing new rules penalizing gas stations and commercial parking lots that don’t provide electric vehicle charging after owners told staff they faced long delays trying to install them before the deadline.

A council report blamed the city, as well B.C. Hydro and supply chain issues, for up to 18-month delays.

Staff are recommending council amend its bylaw to give gas stations and parking lots until 2026 to install EV chargers before subjecting those that don’t comply to an almost $10,000 increase in business licensing fees. The changes are supposed to take effect in January.

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“Many business owners have expressed concerns about being unfairly penalized in 2025 when they are in the process of installing EV charging,” said the council report. “Both B.C. Hydro and the city are dealing with a large number of applications, which impacts timelines.”

The city said it doesn’t know how many gas stations and parking lots are in installing chargers. A council report from 2022 noted uptake prior to the introduction of the new policy had been slow, with only two gas stations and 60 parking lots across the city providing charging.

Staff expect the changes to lead to 21 new fast chargers at gas stations, as well as 130 slower, level-2 chargers at parking lots. The cost savings for the city, compared with providing the same level of public charging stations, is estimated at more than $11 million.

The program is also expected to generate $1.6 million per year by 2030 from gas stations and parking lots that don’t comply and must pay the higher fees.

Vancouver’s 66 gas stations pay $340 a year for a business licence, while its 453 commercial parking lots pay $250 a year. Under a bylaw amendment introduced in May 2022, gas stations and parking lots with more than 60 stalls that don’t install a specified amount of EV charging stations will be subject to a $10,000 annual business licence fee.

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The change comes into effect Jan. 1, meaning gas stations and parking lots need to supply proof of an operating charger by November so the fees can be assessed.

Staff are proposing that council approve a one-year delay to Jan. 1, 2026 at Tuesday’s council meeting.

Council has changed the policy once already in response to feedback, and voted last year to allow gas stations to install EV chargers off-site at other gas stations or commercial parking lots to qualify for the lower business licence fee.

For example, a company that owns four gas stations in Vancouver could install four fast chargers at one of their gas stations, or partner with a third party to install the chargers at a commercial parking lot.

The changes were approved after owners said it was difficult to install chargers in some places because of space or layout. Some gas stations have only one parking stall, meaning it wouldn’t be available for long periods if someone were charging an EV, while in other cases, fuel vents presented safety challenges.

Vancouver’s efforts to increase its charging network by using existing gas stations is in line with a broader movement by large fuel companies to add chargers. Petro Canada, Shell and Superstore have started installing chargers at gas stations across the country, while in Germany, large gas companies must offer at least one fast charger for EVs by 2028.

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But as the number of gas stations in Vancouver dwindles, the city’s strategy has its limits.

In a previous interview, urban-development expert Andy Yan said Vancouver has lost 35 per cent of its gas stations in the past 20 years, from 105 in 1998 to 68 in 2018.

“This is an era of technological disruption,” said Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University.

He attributed the decline to technology — cars are more fuel-efficient and need less gas — and the high price of land that makes residential development a more lucrative proposition for owners.

“That’s kind of pushed the gas pedal on development of these sites,” he said.

B.C. Hydro said it has been planning for the increase in EV charger connection requests for many years. In the 2022 fiscal year, it received 77 requests. That jumped to 192 in 2023 and 187 in 2024.

The requests have come from gas stations and parking lots, among others.

“Each connection request has its own timeline based on the type and size of service required, site complexities, available infrastructure, and municipal requirements,” B.C. Hydro said in a statement.

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There are several points where the process can stall, with timelines dependent on the customer, municipality and BC Hydro. In the design phase, projects can only proceed once the utility company has all the required information, plus a deposit.

“The scope of the work for these electrical services is often larger and most require underground servicing,” said the statement. “As part of the design, this means dealing with challenging, congested utility corridors to find the adequate space needed to bring the utility infrastructure to the site being requested.”

A “back-and-forth” process with the municipality usually ensues. There can also be delays in getting statutory rights of way.

In 2024, the average duration of the design phase was about 70 business days once all customer documents had been received, said BC Hydro. After that, the work can be assigned to electrical construction crews.

BC Hydro said it is working on changes to improve the timeline and collaborating with municipalities to co-ordinate more efficiently.

gluymes@postmedia.com

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