Tesla plugs into Sudbury: Electric car company installs charging infrastructure.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: Environment

Sudbury is home to a new Tesla electric vehicle (EV) charging station, and at least one local EV advocate is optimistic the infrastructure's arrival in the city will spur more people to embrace the technology.

Installation on the Tesla Supercharger, which has stalls to charge eight vehicles at one time, was completed in December in the parking lot of a SmartCentre retail area in the city's south end.

While the proprietary technology only works for Tesla vehicles, Devin Arthur said the luxury brand name brings with it a certain cachet that could attract more users to the technology, increasing demand and prompting other companies to set up shop.

"Especially with Barrie or Huntsville, after the Supercharger's been installed, you'll see other companies come in and install their own generic charge solutions," Arthur said. "I'm hoping it'll spur development in that sense."

Arthur, an electric vehicle owner and enthusiast, founded the Greater Sudbury EV Association last fall in an effort to bring together the city's EV owners and liaise with the car manufacturers that produce electric vehicles to increase awareness.

Electric vehicle use is still relatively nascent in the North, but interest is growing, both among local users and southern Ontarians venturing north.

Arthur said he's had requests from Tesla owners travelling to Sudbury from Toronto asking where they can charge their vehicles.

But progress in the industry is hampered by what Arthur calls a "chicken-and-egg" scenario: there isn't a lot of charging infrastructure in place, which discourages people from buying more electric vehicles, but people who do buy the vehicles need charging stations.

"I'm hoping that, with the Supercharger, that'll get this into everyone's mind that we need to improve the charging infrastructure in Sudbury, and not just Sudbury, but in Northern Ontario in general," he said.

There are a handful of other charging stations in Sudbury, some of which were rolled out as part of the Electric Vehicle Chargers Ontario (EVCO) program in 2016, which provided incentives for private companies to install the infrastructure.

Companies like Koben Systems Inc.--which has installed charging stations in Sudbury, Kenora, North Bay and Timmins, among other communities--strike up an agreement with private companies to install the infrastructure at locations like local coffee shops or banks, which receive revenue for the lease of space.

EV users then use a credit card or phone app to...