New P.E.I. group charged up about electric vehicles

A new group has formed on P.E.I. for people who own or have an interest in electric vehicles.

The P.E.I. Electric Vehicle Association had its first meeting in April with about a half-dozen people, said founding member Brent Chaisson. About 10 attended the second meeting in May, and Chaisson expects the numbers to increase at the next meeting in June.

"Anybody is welcome to come to these meetings," he said. "It's just kind of informal gatherings where we talk about our love of electric vehicles."

The group is a spinoff of the Electric Vehicle Association of Atlantic Canada. Chaisson said the group will have a larger, more unified voice when approaching government and other agencies to advocate for more electric vehicles, infrastructure and incentives to make them more affordable.

Incentive 'really important'

"I think that incentive is really important,"  he said. "The need for charging spaces, and meeting those folks in government that have the knowledge of electric vehicles or share the same passion as we do for the environment and sustainable transportation."

Chaisson, who owns a Tesla 3, said it was neat when they got together for a group photo with the cars at the last meeting.

"I was sitting in my car and I was waiting for everybody to kind of move around but then I thought 'Oh my God, this is amazing,' because I took a video and it was just silence. All these cars backing up and moving around each other. It was just silence. It was really nice."

Chaisson said anyone interested in joining the group can reach out through the P.E.I. Electric Vehicle Association Facebook page.

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