I saw the article on the front page of the Oak Bay News regarding the EV chargers (Oak Bay amped up for new charging station, March 20). I have a Nissan Leaf, so I thought I would try it out.
I must say that I was not impressed to see that the “EV only” signage is completely ignored. Not only were all the parking spots taken, but one of the spots in front of the charging station was occupied by a municipality of Oak Bay pickup truck.
I went inside to inquire, and was met with an almost complete lack of knowledge about the charging stations amongst the three people there. I was given the business card of someone to contact by email.
The most surprising thing, however, is that use of the station appears to require an access card. That was not mentioned in the article. I’m wondering how the mayor expects to gather usage information that “will allow us to determine the need for more stations throughout the community,” when no mention is even made of the need to have an access card, or how one would go about getting such a card.
These problems remind me of the recent announcement of charging stations at the Juan de Fuca rec centre. I was there for the announcement, but had to leave before all the speeches were over. Imagine my surprise a week later when I went to try it out and found that the units were unavailable. You can imagine why I, as an EV owner, might see these things as political announcements and nothing more. The actual follow through is weak, to say the least.
James Strickland
Oak Bay