City Looks To Add 12 Charging Stations

City Awarded Provincial Grant for Additional Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

The City Nanaimo has been awarded a provincial planning grant to identify strategic locations for twelve level II electric vehicle charging stations throughout the city. The Regional District of Nanaimo was awarded a similar grant, which ultimately will result in twenty four level II stations being installed within the region.

The initial phase of the project will see the City of Nanaimo working with major regional employers, local businesses and other interested stakeholders to identify appropriate locations for charging infrastructure, and to prioritize 12 sites for installation in early spring 2013. The resulting network of charging stations will assist the City in achieving the goal of reducing our overall environmental impact.

Level II charging stations are capable of fully charging electric drive vehicles in three to eight hours. Charging stations are ideally suited for places that are accessible to residents and visitors alike, and where vehicles are usually parked for three or more hours. To assist local governments and partners identify and evaluate locations, the province has provided an online Electric Vehicle Toolkit, available here: http://www.livesmartbc.ca/incentives/transportation/EV-toolkit.html

‘“We are working towards providing the necessary infrastructure to support residents in making environmentally friendly choices that ultimately we all benefit from. I trust local businesses and institutions will be eager to take part in this project. During the recent Strategic Planning process it was made clear that residents are looking to the City to continue our efforts to make and support environmentally sustainable choices. Working together as a Region we will be one step closer to reducing our communities’ green house gas emission levels,” explains Mayor John Ruttan.

The provincial government funding provided through the Community Charging Infrastructure Fund has been instrumental in enabling the City of Nanaimo to start planning for the deployment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in our community. We look forward to continued collaboration with the province and the Fraser Basin Council on this important initiative.

Interested businesses and groups within the City of Nanaimo that would like to be involved in the project can contact Bruce Labelle, Fleet Manager with the City of Nanaimo at Bruce.labelle@nanaimo.ca