There are more charging stations than gas stations in downtown Toronto

Much ink (digital and otherwise) has been spilled discussing the state of charging infrastructure for electric cars. While it is true, as electric cars go mainstream, we will need more charging stations to keep the fleet well charged. However, an interesting trend is emerging, with gas stations closing as increasing real-estate prices make their owners keen to sell. Hence if you happen to live in a metropolitan area, (say downtown Toronto), another reason for why your next car should be an EV is emerging: There may not be a gas station close to your home.

A recent blog-post highlighted the fact that only 8 gas stations are left operating in downtown Toronto (source). To be fair, the article rather narrowly defines downtown Toronto: Bathurst-Don river-Bloor-Lake Ontario to be exact. But a quick google-search shows the same thing, namely in a region having perhaps 200 000 inhabitants does not have a whole lot of gas stations (source). This compares to almost 100 EV charging stations. Clearly an EV driver will have a much easier time “filling-up” than a gas car driver, if they happen to be in downtown Toronto.

Condo developers are apparently prepared to fork over large sums for small plots of land, so much so that recently a gas station sold for whopping $73 Million in the fall of 2020, compare that to the $4.6 Million Couche-Tard (convenience store chain) paid for that same plot back in 2016 (source). Seems Couche-Tard managed to 10x their money on that particular plot of land in just four years, quite the return on investment. In addition, gas station economics are iffy nowadays (source), with most of the profit coming from selling human fuel. Even so, you would be hard pressed getting a tenfold return on investment from selling the priciest soda.

Compare that to the ease of installing electric car chargers. I suppose any old electric outlet will do, but in practice, most EV drivers opt to install a level 2 charging station, which I did in my garage for about $2000. Even level 3 fast charging stations can be installed for few tens of thousands of dollars (source). In fact many condo developers put one in the underground car park of the condo building that the residents can share, perhaps a more convenient arrangement than relying on shrinking number of gas stations?

Truth be told, much of this depends on where you live, but best do your homework and ensure you can fuel your car, with electrons or otherwise.