The city is looking for a new partner to replace and upgrade its downtown Barrie electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE).
Councillors decided Tuesday night to have staff issue a request for proposals, and be authorized to enter into an agreement with the successful third-party service provider, for the replacement and upgrade of the current downtown EVSE.
Coun. Bryn Hamilton said she supports outsourcing this service.
“I don’t think this falls within the city’s scope of core business, nor do I think it should,” she said. “I get very nervous when government thinks that they should get into these areas when there are specific third parties that do this for a living, that have the expertise, the knowledge, that keep up to date.
“I just think this is not an area we need to get into,” Hamilton added. “We need to be careful about what the city’s core services are. Let’s work on those, rather than expanding into other avenues.”
City council will consider final approval of this action at its May 1 meeting.
This new partner would be responsible for providing and installing the replacement and/or upgrading of existing EVSE in the downtown with universal charging stations, at no cost to the city.
Decisions on the number and location of EVSE, in consultation with the city, would also be its responsibility, as would be the management of operational aspects of the EVSE — including maintenance, client services, as well as setting, collecting and overseeing the fee and charging services, along with operating costs.
Rick Pews, the city’s director of corporate facilities, would be authorized to change the agreement with the service provider to include additional EVSE or to modify the terms of the agreement as needed.
“The intent … is to outsource the operations and maintenance of these charging stations, the entire infrastructure, to a third party, (so) the city wouldn’t have any costs,” he said. “The city is effectively the landlord, still responsible for snow clearing, general maintenance, but the actual cost of the charging stations, the maintenance, the utilities, would be net zero to the city because the third-party contract would be responsible for paying us back for the hydro they use. I would expect the third party to make a profit.
“We don’t have the resources to maintain the network as it is,” Pews added.
In 2017, council approved what it called the Tesla charging infrastructure investment, which allowed for the installation of public EVSE infrastructure at no capital cost to the city. A total of 54 public charging stations were installed in the downtown, strategically dispersed across the Collier Street Parkade, the Barrie Public Library, Heritage Park and the Barrie Marina. All were fully operational by 2018.
In 2021, the city partnered with Alectra, backed by the support of the Natural Resources Canada zero-emission vehicle infrastructure program. This resulted in 10 additional electric vehicle (EV) charge stations being installed at East Bayfield Community Centre, Peggy Hill Team Community Centre, Allandale Recreation Centre and Sadlon Arena.
Alectra assumed responsibility for all operational, capital and maintenance costs and services associated with the electric charge stations at these recreation facilities.
Demand and use of the downtown EVSE has increased since their installation. There was an increase in electricity consumption of 60 per cent in 2023 compared to the previous year.
On Thursday, Honda Canada also announced a multi-billion-dollar investment in electric vehicle production that will affect its Alliston manufacturing plant.
In 2023, approximately 50 per cent of the total downtown EVSE electricity use occurred at the Heritage Park site, with the Collier Street Parkade accounting for 27 per cent, and the library and marina contributing 16 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.
In the initial four years of operation, there were minimal maintenance requirements. Nevertheless, with the expiration of the warranty period for the EV charge stations, there has been a growing number of breakdown incidents, resulting in increased downtime for the electric vehicle chargers.
Last year, city staff were dispatched to 16 equipment failure complaints from residents, and had to replace seven of the charge stations due to failure.
The charging stations consist of a combination of universal and Tesla units, lacking "smart" functions. The absence of smart features restricts staff from diagnosing or remotely addressing equipment downtime effectively. As well, staff are unable to implement charging fees for use and accessing utilization and operational data from these units.
So staff are recommending a partnership with a third-party service provider to rejuvenate the city’s downtown and marina ESVE infrastructure.
The turnkey service model is designed to mirror the current arrangement with Alectra for the recreation facility charge stations, involving the management of operational aspects, maintenance and client services, as well as overseeing fee and charging services.
The existing Alectra agreement incurs no capital or ongoing operating costs for the city. Alectra and other vendors would be able to submit proposals for the new contract.
