Article content

Saskatoon’s electric vehicle chargers at Lawson Civic Centre and Lakewood Civic Centre cannot currently operate without taxpayer support.

Article content

That was new information, presented at city council on Wednesday, after an earlier August committee meeting had said a $5.35 per hour charging rate would result in a full cost recovery.

Article content

Article content

“So we’re essentially giving 40 people roughly $100 a year to park their car?” said Coun. Robert Pearce, adding that the city has some difficult decisions coming up during budget deliberations, and several people in the city are struggling to get by.

Article content

Article content

Administration said the city is trying to promote a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and that is what the city is subsidizing.

Article content

Article content

Councillors were caught off guard by the new information, which showed that as the price rose for electric vehicle users to charge at the stations, the number of people using those stations decreased. Roughly 44 users were currently using those stations each month.

Article content

Report data showed different possible fees for the charging stations, and an estimated subsidy range that would be needed, ranging between $21,000 and $4,000.

Article content

It was explained that any fee higher than $5.35 per hour would drive enough users away that the subsidy would need to increase. The city would need to subside this project at least $4,000 to $8,000 a year if council wanted to keep the chargers running.

Article content

These chargers ran for two years in Saskatoon as part of a pilot project, offering free charging to EV users in the city. The project infrastructure cost roughly $135,000, which included the cost of the free charging.

Article content

Article content

Many councillors wondered if they could hand off these charging stations to a private partner, but city administration said there’s not a third party currently interested in doing that.

Article content

Article content

Coun. Jasmin Parker said the project didn’t answer all the questions the city was looking for, and that future reporting needs to include data around scaling and privatization potential.

Article content

“I feel that this is not something the taxpayers should be paying for,” Coun. Bev Dubois said.

Article content

Coun. Troy Davies said the city needs to build out its own EV fleet before trying to help residents with their EVs. He added that building in-house allows them to get concrete data.

Article content

City administration noted that the city fleet includes six EVs and two electric buses.

Article content

“We have to take care of our own backyard before we start trying to take care of others,” Davies said.

Article content

The number of EVs in Saskatoon has been growing. According to city data, 524 EVs were registered in 2024, compared to 18 registered in 2017. The city said the pilot program resulted in about 30 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent being reduced because of the stations.