Oakville Council Votes Against Buying More EV Chargers
Oakville's 46 public electric vehicle chargers are staying exactly as they are, and no new ones are being bought. Town council voted unanimously at its Sept. 28 meeting against expanding the municipal charging network, after a staff report showed the posts the town already owns sit unused most of the time.
Average use of the network, counting town fleet charging, came in at about 10 per cent. Covering the operating costs takes roughly 30 per cent, so the network leans on the town's parking reserve for operations, maintenance and eventual replacement, and it finished 2025 with a $38,000 deficit. "Existing town-owned EV chargers are not generating sufficient usage to support cost recovery," corporate strategy program advisor Alicia Lall wrote in her report to council.
The cost of growing the network is the other half of the decision. Lall put a Level 2 charger at roughly $20,000 per unit and a Level 3 fast charger between $80,000 and $150,000. Federal funding could offset up to half of those capital costs, she said, but the town would still carry the rest up front plus the running and replacement bills.
Level 2 is the sticking point
All 46 town-owned chargers are Level 2, with 20 in commercial shopping districts and 26 at community centres and town hall. By the federal government's figures a Level 2 charger needs four to 10 hours to fill a vehicle, while a Level 3 does the job in 20 to 30 minutes. Ward 5 councillor Jeff Knoll called Level 2 old technology that holds a commercial parking space far too long, and Ward 3 councillor Dave Gittings pointed out that most drivers find charging at home easier anyway.
Councillor Janet Haslett-Theall voted against the expansion and then added an amendment asking staff to look into public-private partnerships that could bring faster chargers to town. Staff will also work on getting more drivers onto the stations already in the ground. Oakville has 286 public charging ports in total, so the town's share is a small slice of the local network.
Where the town's chargers are
Twenty of the town's 46 stations sit in commercial shopping districts and the other 26 are at community centres and town hall. Locations, rates and which posts are out of service are listed on the town's charging station page.
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