ST. PAUL - Municipalities in the Lakeland are looking at the possibility of installing electric vehicle charging stations, with funds anticipated to come from the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre Electric Vehicle Charging Program.
The program supports municipalities that want to install new EV charging stations in public places. Up to 100 per cent of the costs of purchasing and installing a new charging station can be rebated through the program.
Up to $10,000 for each Level 2 charger can be realized. The Level 2 chargers take several hours to charge a vehicle.
Up to $150,000 for each fast charger is also available. Fast chargers mean charging can be done in about 30 minutes.
Charges must be placed on municipally owned land, and there must be access to the charging stations available 24/7. The stations should be visible, have appropriate lighting, along with confirmation and signing that the parking spot is only for electric vehicles.
The area must also be free of subsurface utilities, such as water, gas, irrigation or telecommunication lines.
“Over $3 million is available to Alberta municipalities and non-profit community-related organizations located on municipally-owned land,” according to the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre.
During the Feb. 14 Town of St. Paul council meeting, it was noted that a joint municipality meeting had been held earlier in the month with the County of St. Paul, and the topic did arise.
If the County of St. Paul decided to proceed with the program, the only location within the Town of St. Paul that would meet the requirements was the County’s administration office, since the charging station must be on municipal land owned by the municipality applying for the funds, explained Town of St. Paul CAO Steven Jeffery.
Jeffery said he was looking to council to see if they wanted to proceed with an expression of interest and talk about potential locations.
While the Town administration office, UFO landing pad tourist information centre and Iron Horse Campground were put forward as ideas by administration, Coun. Nathan Taylor said he would prefer to see a charging station installed at a location such as the Golf Course or arenas.
Taylor said he felt the station should be in a location where it is useful for people visiting the town. He noted that putting it in a recreation area would cater to families who purchased electric vehicles to cut back on travel costs associated with bringing athletes to tournaments, for example.
He also felt the Golf Course location would offer people something to do while they were charging their vehicle, such as golf in the summer months, or eat at the restaurant located within the clubhouse that is open year-round.
Mayor Maureen Miller agreed that the location should be somewhere where people are taking in another activity.
The Recreation Centre area includes both arenas, the curling rink, and the St. Paul Municipal Library, along with baseball diamonds in the summer months.
Taylor also said he felt the charging station should be put in a parking area that is not used a lot, rather than a priority parking area. He noted that he didn’t believe owners of electric cars were necessarily looking to be rewarded with priority parking.
When the topic of a user-pay fee was brought up, Jeffery said the information he’s received directs municipalities to cover the costs of power for the charging station for a period of time before introducing a user-pay fee. That way, they would know how much demand there is.
A motion "That council approve the Energy Manager to submit an expression of interest and if approved, make application to the MCCAC Electric Vehicle Charger Program, as recommended by the Energy Manager,” was approved.
A decision about a potential location for the charging station was not made.
The program also received a nod of support from the County of St. Paul Council at its Feb. 8 meeting . Council voted in favour of submitting an expression of interest to install a Level 3 charging system which would enable people to recharge their vehicles in less than one hour. However, council was also undecided about the best location giving consideration to the County office parking lot in St. Paul as one option but also discussing the possibility of locating it outside of the town on other County-owned land.
However, council did agree to make its application based on a metered user-pay system following a discussion as to who would pick up the electrical usage costs incurred as a result of the charging sytem.
"We're not going to meter the power used to charge a car but we meter the sewer we put into a lagoon," Coun. Darrell Younghans questioned, inquiring if it would be an additional cost to a have a metered sytem over a free one or was the County going to be picking up the bill for the electricity used.
"I would like to know what the costs are because I don't think you can turn a light on around here anymore for under $5 the minute you hit a switch by the look of these power bills and I don't want to be in the position where we are subsidizing someone else."
Coun. Dale Hedrick expressed doubt that many County ratepayers would be pulling into the County parking lot to charge vehicles. CAO Sheila Kitz agreed saying it was more likely it would used by people travelling through the area.
