Straight Talk

Dozens of electric vehicle charging stations coming to Vancouver

by Stephen Hui on February 22nd, 2012 at 2:02 PM
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      Up to 67 electric-vehicle charging stations are set to be installed across Vancouver by the end of 2013, as part of a $800,000 pilot project.

      It’s hoped the Level I (110 volt) and Level II (240 volt) charging stations will encourage the use of plug-in electric vehicles in the city. The pilot project will study the opportunities, barriers, processes, costs, and ideal locations for electric vehicle infrastructure.

      Launched today (February 22), the project is being paid for by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund ($350,000), endowed by the federal government; the B.C. government ($261,000); B.C. Hydro ($119,000); and the City of Vancouver ($70,000).

      “As Vancouver strives to become the greenest city in the world by 2020, we need to ensure the city’s infrastructure will support and accelerate the shift towards lower carbon transportation options such as electric vehicles,” Mayor Gregor Robertson said in a news release. “This pilot is another significant step forward toward our goal of supporting sustainable transportation options for all Vancouver residents.”

      City policy already requires 20 percent of parking stalls in new condo buildings to have electric vehicle charging infrastructure and all new single-family homes to have dedicated plug-in outlets.

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      Comments

      5 Comments

      Taxpayers R Us

      Feb 22, 2012 at 3:33pm

      Damn, for a second there I was shocked to imagine Vision doing something like this, and then your article cleared that up.

      Very cool though, Vancouver needs this to progress in a sane, non-bike-lane-invasive kind of way.

      WM

      Feb 22, 2012 at 5:44pm

      It is certainly a boon for the mining industry.

      unknown sample

      Feb 23, 2012 at 12:40pm

      this is a good thing. seriously considering an electric car myself (currently drive a smart car). stuff like this will only help increase adoption of this technology. more electric cars fueled by clean power sources like hydro, solar, wind and nuclear will get us further from polluting cars and providing cash to oil producing hostile foreign regimes.

      BikerCK

      Feb 24, 2012 at 9:29am

      There is big potential for electric cars, but to be fair, it's overstated, esp. with regard to their overall eco-friendliness

      One thing that is obvious is that there's a significant investment to make the switch and its questionable to have the public subsidizing the tiny number of car drivers who can afford to buy an electric or hybrid vehicle. Surely it's up to private enterprise to ensure there's fueling stops for privately owned vehicles?