Electric vehicle chargers are being installed at several Chatham-Kent municipal properties and should be in use before the end of the year.
Council approved using funds from the green energy initiatives reserve towards the seven chargers in June. The project is now in the construction stage, said Madison Mantha, project coordinator for the municipality’s waste recycling and climate change department.
“The hope is just to show that the municipality is promoting green energy initiatives and we’re promoting reducing greenhouse gas emissions and just trying to offer an alternative for people within the municipality to use these,” Mantha said.
The seven locations include the front parking lot of the Chatham-Kent Civic Centre, the underground parking lot of the civic centre, the Chatham Cultural Centre, the John D. Bradley Convention Centre, the Gable Rees Rotary Pool in Blenheim, the Ken Houston Memorial Agricultural Center in Dresden and the Wallaceburg Service Centre.
The total project was expected to cost $169,411 in June. This includes $70,000 in funding from Natural Resources Canada’s Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program and over $80,000 from the municipality’s green energy initiatives reserve. The municipality also receives an HST rebate.
The contract for installation was awarded to ChargerCrew Canada Inc., which is an authorized reseller and installer of ChargePoint EV chargers. The municipality applied for the federal grant through ChargerCrew acting as a third-party.
The stations will each have two ports and offer a Level 2 charge.
“To my understanding, they are the slow type of charge and they are good more-so for top-ups for EVs,” Mantha said. “They’re not the quick charge stations.”
The rates for charging are being evaluated now, she said.
A new EV Charging Infrastructure Lifecycle reserve, as well as operating and maintenance costs, are expected to be included in the 2023 Chatham-Kent budget.
Mantha said the municipality will also use the chargers as an “education tool” as it moves towards more green energy initiatives.