If you’re a Tesla owner in Canada, you’ve no doubt noticed that when you pull up to a Supercharger station, you are being billed by the minute, and not by how much energy is actually being put into your vehicle.
This obviously makes no sense, and isn’t fair, as the amount of energy that goes into your vehicle can vary from one day to the next. It can even vary on the same day, and can be affected by things like temperature, state of charge, and how many other cars are Supercharging at the same time as you.
Now Tesla is encouraging owners in Canada to advocate for a fairer system where you will be charged by the kWh, just like when fill up your car with gas.
The Problem
Currently in Canada, standards established by Measurement Canada require that EV charging stations must bill customers on a time-only basis.
These rules were established well before EVs became as popular as they are today, and were implemented to ensure drivers wouldn’t stay plugged-in for longer than necessary.
Tesla doesn’t face these problems due to its expansive Supercharger network, and the implementation of idle fees. Currently in Canada, Tesla charges fees at two different tiers based on a couple of different factors:
- Tier 1 applies while cars are charging at or below 60 kW and tier 2 applies while cars are charging above 60 kW. Tier 1 is half the cost of tier 2.
- Tier 1 also applies anytime your vehicle is sharing Supercharger power with another car.
The reason behind this fee structure still being in force today is Measurement Canada’s inability to develop metering standards that allow EV charging to be billed based on the amount of energy being provided. The only way to do so would be to install utility-grade electricity meters, something which Tesla says will unnecessarily increase infrastructure costs.
How to help
Tesla wants you to contact Measurement Canada and reach out to government officials on social media to urge them to enable kWh-billing as soon as possible.
They have created a pre-populated form letter which you can easily send to the President of Measurement Canada, Diane Allen. If you’re feeling creative, you can even send a video.
Click here to visit the Engage Tesla website and do your part to ensure kWh-billing is allowed in Canada.
