Measurement Canada's Plans for Public Charging Regulations

[MellowJohnny]

I thought I'd post this here specifically as it really only relates to Canadians. The backstory is I've been trying to understand why DCFC is (almost always?) charged by the Minute / hour. Makes absolutely no sense at all.

As it turns out Measurements Canada does not yet regulate the "measurement" of electricity for sale to EV owners via DCFC. Essentially the idea is to regulate the sale of electricity the same way they regulate the gas pumps - they are calibrated to reliably deliver the quantity of gas the pump is dispensing. Same for DCFC.

This will eventually lead to the the sale of electricity via DCFC by the kilowatt hour, as logically it should be. And by "eventually" that apparently means by 2030. Love the Canadian Government.

For now, this is why basically all DCFC is charged by the hour / minute:

"Time-based and flat fee billing methods are most commonly used in Canada and other countries, as they allowed the EV charging infrastructure to grow quickly in support of EV adoption, while providing industry with time to develop and refine technologies necessary for accurate and reliable measurement of kWh consumption at EV charging stations. The use of a flat fee or time-based billing method for EV charging is exempt from the EGIA and other statutes at this moment."

Anyway, it's not too technical and I found it quite enlightening.

https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/mc-mc.nsf/eng/lm04949.html

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[Tmac]

I thought I'd post this here specifically as not really only relates to Canadians. The backstory is I've been trying to understand why DCFC is (almost always?) charged by the Minute / hour. Makes absolutely no sense at all.

As it turns out Measurements Canada does not yet regulate the "measurement" of electricity for sale to EV owners via DCFC. Essentially the idea is to regulate the sale of electricity the same way they regulate the gas pumps - they are calibrated to reliably deliver the quantity of gas the pump is dispensing. Same for DCFC.

This will eventually lead to the the sale of electricity via DCFC by the kilowatt hour, as logically it should be. And by "eventually" that apparently means by 2030. Love the Canadian Government.

For now, this is why basically all DCFC is charged by the hour / minute:

"Time-based and flat fee billing methods are most commonly used in Canada and other countries, as they allowed the EV charging infrastructure to grow quickly in support of EV adoption, while providing industry with time to develop and refine technologies necessary for accurate and reliable measurement of kWh consumption at EV charging stations. The use of a flat fee or time-based billing method for EV charging is exempt from the EGIA and other statutes at this moment."

Anyway, it's not too technical and I found it quite enlightening.

https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/mc-mc.nsf/eng/lm04949.html

The good news is: " Furthermore, before the end of the calendar year, we aim to enact a temporary dispensation mechanism to allow device owners and operators of Level 3+ EV charging devices already in the marketplace to bill customers based on kWh consumed rather than time. "

 

[MellowJohnny]

The good news is: " Furthermore, before the end of the calendar year, we aim to enact a temporary dispensation mechanism to allow device owners and operators of Level 3+ EV charging devices already in the marketplace to bill customers based on kWh consumed rather than time. "

The word "allow" makes me think nobody will do it, unless it's economically advantageous. I assume then that the reason we don't pay by the kWh today is the lack of a Gov't approved way to measure the amount of electricity being sold, whereas measuring time has been around for a while now

Maybe the 2030 date is for dispensation by the kWh to be "mandated"?

 

[sotek2345]

The word "allow" makes me think nobody will do it, unless it's economically advantageous. I assume then that the reason we don't pay by the kWh today is the lack of a Gov't approved way to measure the amount of electricity being sold, whereas measuring time has been around for a while now

Maybe the 2030 date is for dispensation by the kWh to be "mandated"?

At least in the US, prices seem to be much cheaper on timed chargers vs. per kWh. Here is an example

In Pennsylvania EA charges by the minute - ~24c/min for members. If I spend 40 minutes charging, that is $9.60

In NY EA charges by the kWh - ~31c/kWh for members. That same 40 minutes will take me from about 15% to 80% (or ~57kWh) - Costing ~$17.70

 

[SpongeBad]

At least in the US, prices seem to be much cheaper on timed chargers vs. per kWh. Here is an example

In Pennsylvania EA charges by the minute - ~24c/min for members. If I spend 40 minutes charging, that is $9.60

In NY EA charges by the kWh - ~31c/kWh for members. That same 40 minutes will take me from about 15% to 80% (or ~57kWh) - Costing ~$17.70

It's always better to pay for what you're actually getting rather than some hypothetical.

Electrify Canada charges $0.44/min for members if your car charges at >90kW for any part of the charge, or $0.21/min if you're charging at less than 90kW the whole time. The issue I've had is the charger working at 100kW+ for a few minutes and then dropping right down to 43kW within a minute or two; probably because the cooling mechanism in the cable isn't working properly (moving to another charge often solves it, so it's not the car, but there isn't always another station available).

If they can charge me $0.44/min instead of $0.21/min for 43kW, though, why would they ever fix the charger? They're literally incentivized to slow the charging down. The longer I'm there, the more they can charge me. If they make money per kWh, then they want me out of there as fast possible and I like that, because I want out of there ASAP, too. This pushes them to make sure their equipment is working as efficiently as possible. If you then layer on the MACH-E's charging curve, which already slows down pretty dramatically after the early peaks, paying per minute is definitely not a deal.

I've also experienced similar issues at multiple Petro Canada chargers (although at least there the rate isn't more expensive for cars that charge faster for a few minutes).

 

[sotek2345]

It's always better to pay for what you're actually getting rather than some hypothetical.

Electrify Canada charges $0.44/min for members if your car charges at >90kW for any part of the charge, or $0.21/min if you're charging at less than 90kW the whole time. The issue I've had is the charger working at 100kW+ for a few minutes and then dropping right down to 43kW within a minute or two; probably because the cooling mechanism in the cable isn't working properly (moving to another charge often solves it, so it's not the car, but there isn't always another station available).

If they can charge me $0.44/min instead of $0.21/min for 43kW, though, why would they ever fix the charger? They're literally incentivized to slow the charging down. The longer I'm there, the more they can charge me. If they make money per kWh, then they want me out of there as fast possible and I like that, because I want out of there ASAP, too. This pushes them to make sure their equipment is working as efficiently as possible. If you then layer on the MACH-E's charging curve, which already slows down pretty dramatically after the early peaks, paying per minute is definitely not a deal.

I've also experienced similar issues at multiple Petro Canada chargers (although at least there the rate isn't more expensive for cars that charge faster for a few minutes).

I don't really disagree, and paying per kWh is absolutely where we are going to end up. Just pointing out that we are in weird transitional period and there are some weird pricing structures out there.

 

[SpongeBad]

I don't really disagree, and paying per kWh is absolutely where we are going to end up. Just pointing out that we are in weird transitional period and there are some weird pricing structures out there.

Definitely. I'm more surprised at how slowly the government is moving (but then again, it's government...).

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