Province takes next step in adding electric vehicle charging stations across P.E.I.
'It's amazing how many electric vehicles that are already on the road here '
The province is taking the next step to add more electric vehicle charging stations across the Island. Tenders to install the chargers were put out in late July and include work at sites in Summerside, Borden-Carleton, Wood Islands, Souris, Charlottetown and O'Leary.
The charging stations were announced in the P.E.I. capital budget for 2019-2020 in November 2018. The budget set aside $730,000 for the new chargers.
In March the federal government announced it would contribute $300,000 to the project, reducing the provincial contribution to $430,000.
"It's amazing how many electric vehicles that are already on the road here on P.E.I.," said Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy Minister Steven Myers.
The province has plans to install Level-3 charging stations sometime in the fall, Myers said, which are able to charge vehicles more quickly than Level-2 chargers.
'Makes a lot of sense'
Souris is expected to be one of the first municipalities on the Island to have a Level-3 charging station, he said.
"It makes a lot of sense to have them in towns where there's a greater number of people," he said.
Myers said the province is also looking into partnering with the city of Charlottetown to have stations installed in its downtown area — but the plan would ultimately be to expand to as many locations as possible.
"We're going to put in quite a number of charging stations just this year alone, but we're always having conversations about putting more in," he said.
"We want it so that when you come here, or if you're an Islander who has an electric vehicle and you want to travel, there's no destination that you're not able to go to and get a charge."
Myers said the province is optimistic that municipalities will follow suit and begin efforts to install their own charging stations as well.
The province's Department of Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy is beginning to grow its own fleet of electric vehicles as it recently purchased a couple of electric cars, he said.