New electric vehicle charging station up and running in Vulcan
The ribbon was cut for the grand opening of Vulcan’s new Electric Vehicle (EV) charging station Nov. 15.
This new station is located in the Vulcan Tourism and Trek Station’s parking lot and can charge electric vehicles in 30 to 40 minutes or six to eight hours, depending on which charger is used.
This site is one of 20 charging locations in southern Alberta, said Megan Lohmann, project manager for Peaks to Prairies EV Networks Community Energy Association.
“What it does is it adds more redundancy to the network. The idea is southern Alberta becomes better connected with electric vehicle charging stations to benefit the entire region, by facilitating electric vehicle tourism,” Lohmann said. “Now (people) who drive electric vehicles can access communities in a way that is much more reliable.”
As of three months ago there were no fast chargers in southern Alberta.
“Three months ago before any of these were installed it would be very difficult to travel through southern Alberta with an electric vehicle,” Lohmann said. “Because of the collaboration between funders and host communities we have now addressed those gaps, so now it allows for a lot more reliable travel.”
There are EV charging networks in British Columbia she said.
“It is getting a lot better across Canada, primarily because of the commitments from other organizations like Petro Canada and Canadian Tire, both who have started to host charging stations at their operations,” Lohmann said. “We are starting to see a much better trans-Canada network.”
She added that “gaps still remain in rural areas, so the intent of this project is to get off the main highway, and fill in that regional gap.
“We can draw drivers into these small communities for economic and tourism benefit.”
An ATCO spokesman wrote in an email to the Advocate that the cost to charge for half an hour at the company’s fast chargers is $10.
“What (drivers) tend to do instead is get to about 80 per cent (of a full charge) and then leave to their final destination or proceed to the next charging station in their route. The Peaks to Prairies network has been designed for this strategy because the first 80 per cent of an EV battery charges up rapidly — in as little as 30 minutes.”
Vulcan mayor Tom Grant was in attendance at the Nov. 15 ceremony and is pleased to see the charging station in town.
“I think it is a great project for our community,” Grant said. “We have the solar park in our town, some solar projects going to the south and also the wind farm. It is a great opportunity for tourism to come to our community.”
Even though there aren’t many people in the community with electric vehicles, Grant said there are quite a few that come through the community that would use the station, especially the quick charge so they are not waiting three or four hours for their car to charge.
“As people drive south it gives locations along the road to charge their unit up and see our communities,” he said.
Source : vulcanadvocate
