Electric surge: More EV charging stations expected by end of summer in Windsor-Essex

Sean Hart was getting the windshield repaired on his car when the mechanic asked him the question he gets on a regular basis.

"Where do you charge it? That's the first thing," said Hart, vice-president of the Electric Vehicle Society and owner of a Nissan Leaf. 

The answer to that question is expected to grow by more than 100 different locations in Windsor-Essex after a recent federal grant program approved applications faster than expected.

"We've had a great response from the community. We're actually fully allocated," said Eric Freeze of the Essex Energy Corporation. 

Freeze oversees the Charge Up Windsor Essex program that helped dish out $1.7 million for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure projects in workplaces and public places. 

When the program launched in December they anticipated it could take two years to empty the program's budget. 

"The fact that this was done within five months, that was faster than we had anticipated."

Freeze said he couldn't disclose what locations the applications were for but said municipalities made up a big chunk of the applications.

Private organizations also submitted applications, he said, planning to make charging stations available for employees. 

He expects to see those stations online by the end of summer. 

The city of Windsor has also installed an additional 22 charging ports and expects those to be online by summer. 

EVs can be charged using the same outlet you plug your toaster in, giving a vehicle seven to nine kilometres worth of range per hour of charge time.

That's what's known as a Level 1 car charger, which usually comes with the vehicle. 

Level 2 chargers use outlets similar to what a home needs for a stove. They can charge an EV four times faster than a Level 1 set up, outputting between 3.3kW to 19.2kW.