Local government planning for an EV future
Vancouver City Council has recently passed new building regulations requiring developers to include charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs) in at least 20 per cent of parking bays in new multi-dwelling buildings.
The Council have already established regulations requiring new homes to be pre-wired directly to the garage to make installing an electric vehicle charging system simpler in the future.
Vancouver is not alone. A lot of cities in North America including Chicago, San Francisco and Portland are putting in place new policies and new infrastructure to support EVs. The UK government is also rolling out charging stations.
The benefits of EVs are clear. When they are charged from renewable sources they produce no greenhouse gas emissions. When an EV is charged from a coal-fired power station it can still produce less emissions because traditional internal combustion engines are very inefficient. EVs can also benefit from load-shifting — charging at night when electricity is cheap.
EVs are also becoming mainstream very quickly. Better Place is rolling out large-scale infrastructure for charging EVs (including in Australia) and almost every major car manufacturer has plans to produce an EV (I have my eye on the new Mini E). It won’t be too long before they are available “drive away” from the showroom in Perth.
Local government has a very important role to play in helping EVs become mainstream in Australia. The key to success will be good public charging infrastructure supported by consistent and proactive government policies.
While Perth has an active Electric Vehicle Association, I’m not aware of any local government action on this front, yet, and I’d be keen to hear about any new initiatives.
Tags: EV, local government, Perth
