Minister's exclusive EV charging station frustrates other Fredericton drivers
CBC
Everything was looking good for Kiirsti Owen when she pulled into the parking lot at Marysville Place in Fredericton one day last year.
Owen, a doctoral student at the University of New Brunswick, needed a fast charge for her Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric car so she could quickly hit the road to drive home to Miramichi.
A charging station outside N.B. Power's downtown head office was occupied, but the one she located at Marysville Place — a provincial government office building — was free.
She soon realized why.
"I came over here, I pulled up to it, tried to plug in and and it wouldn't let me charge," she said. "It said it was a private charger."
The charger, which N.B. Power says costs about $150,000, is directly in front of the parking spot reserved for Environment and Climate Change Minister Gary Crossman.
"I assume that it means that this charger is being reserved for people working at this office," Owen said. "I'm not sure if it's just a few individuals or the whole building, but it's not open to the public."
Department spokesperson Heather Pert did not make Crossman or anyone else available for an interview but said the charging stations at Marysville Place "are for the use of GNB fleet vehicles only," including Crossman's ministerial vehicle.
Last fall, Crossman, was photographed charging his ministerial EV at the fast charger.
His spot was vacant ,and the charger was not in use during Owen's hour-long CBC interview there.
"I think it's great that they're doing that, that they have electric chargers and electric vehicles," Owen said. "I don't want to take away from that. I just think it would be nice if the public could access this one, too."
The station's exclusivity has become a point of discussion — and frustration — for electric vehicle drivers on PlugShare, a site for sharing charger information.
Tesla drivers have their own charging network, but for non-Tesla owners around Fredericton, there are only four fast stations: at Marysville Place, N.B. Power's head office downtown, a local used car dealership and the Irving Big Stop on the Trans-Canada Highway in Lincoln.
Drivers plug in and tap their credit card. If they try that at Marysville Place, the station rejects their card with the screen display message: "Unauthorized access. For private use only."