Where wide spread integration and acceptance of electrified vehicles is concerned, there are a few significant impediments that still stand in the way. The technological limitations of batteries are certainly one such impediment, but another major, and one might argue more easily remedied impediment is the development of an overlaying infrastructure to support electrified and other alternative fuel vehicles.
It could 
be argued that how far an electrified vehicle can travel on a single charge would be irrelevant if there was an effective and efficient infrastructure built to support it. If a car could only travel 100 or 200 KM’s let’s say on a single charge, it could still be an effective vehicle if an adequate network of super fast charging stations were built and scattered throughout the road networks of the country.
While the necessary infrastructure is nowhere near what it needs to be at the moment, there are at least signs that both private business and government understand the need to build this infrastructure and are also willing to take the necessary steps to build it.
Recently, the city of Surrey, British Columbia, located just south of Vancouver, enacted a bylaw which requires any new service station application to include plans for at least one other form of alternative fuelling to be available. Surrey, which at 480,000 people is BC’s 2nd largest city receives about 2 new applications per year, and while the number seems small it marks one of the first times that a municipality has taken legislative strides towards building an effective alternative fuelling infrastructure.
The bylaw does not restrict itself to EV quick charge units, but also to hydrogen, compressed natural gas and propane fuelling options as well. The bylaw is drawing the attention of other municipalities as nearby Richmond, BC has begun discussions about enacting similar legislation as well.
Charging Station at Park'n'Fly in Toronto, ON
The move towards a greater alternative fuel infrastructure is being noticed and acted upon by private enterprise as well. Recently, I was faced with the predicament of having a fully electric vehicle as my test drive vehicle for the week, while also needing to travel by plane for business. As I reside approximately 60 KM’s from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, the thought of being able to drive there and back without re-charging was a risky proposition at best. It turns out though that a widely known airport parking service was thinking of this dilemma as well, and has taken the initiative to provide a solution.
Park’n’Fly, which operates airport related parking operations across Canada recently began offering quick charge service to its Valet Service clients in Toronto. The service is free to customers using the Valet service (they also offer self-park and economy options, but do not have access to the quick charger) and can be ordered when a client with an electric or plug-in electric vehicle registers the car. Park’n’fly notes the date and time of your arrival and then schedules the car to be hooked up to the charging unit about 4 to 5 hours before a customer is scheduled to arrive. This is generally enough time to fully charge an electric vehicle, and thus allows clients to have a full driving range available to them when they return home.
Scheduling the vehicle to be charged just prior to arrival makes sense since doing so at the beginning could result in a certain amount of charge being lost due to climatic and other conditions. According to Park’n’fly, the service is becoming more popular as qualifying vehicles are growing in popularity and they expect to see the service continue to grow as more EV and PHEV’s are sold. Personally I was both surprised and pleased to see a Chevy Volt in the charging unit when I pulled in with the Nissan Leaf I was driving for the week. Perhaps sub-consciously I was expecting to see the unit sitting idle, but the fact that it was in use showed me that the opportunity realized by Park’n’fly was indeed one that was being optimized.
The fully utilized electrified automobile network envisioned by many environmentalists of the future may yet be a long way off. However it is thanks to the examples provided above that one can be optimistic that both public policy and private enterprise are focusing on not only the need to build the infrastructure but are taking the steps to achieve it.
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