City, College and businesses preparing for electric vehicle influx

Information provided by the Community Energy Association suggests Albertans are ahead of the game when it comes to electric vehicles.

According to a study included in an outline for the project, out of all the provinces without incentives to purchase electric cars, Alberta has by far the highest sales. It said there were 900 sold in the first quarter of 2017 alone.

The community energy association says Alberta has “the highest adoption of electric vehicles in provinces where no purchase incentives exist.”
Majority likely bought in #yyc and #yeg pic.twitter.com/62pQiqBAHL

— CHAT-TV Leah Murray (@CHATTV_LMurray) January 12, 2018

“People who are buying them tend to be in those larger centres like Calgary or Edmonton,” said Rochelle Pancoast, general manager for utilities business development in Medicine Hat.

“So, this is really a push to branch beyond those larger urban areas.”

The project was created to establish a network of charging stations in southwestern Alberta, to encourage those with electric vehicles to travel more while reducing emissions.

This is the proposed network of electric vehicle charging stations the city and college in #medhat are looking to join. pic.twitter.com/NTI0NErMEZ

— CHAT-TV Leah Murray (@CHATTV_LMurray) January 12, 2018

“The city and the college really felt [this is] an opportunity for the southeast part of the province to be involved as well,” said Pancoast.

The project would see the College and the City both contribute $15,000 to the project. If the proposal is approved by council and receives funding from other levels of government, the City and College will install a quick charge station at the Cultural Centre.

Tracy Stroud, manager of business development at the College, said this would present students with a new learning opportunity.

“The data that comes off of that [station], our IT students are very interested in that,” said Stroud.

“From a social perspective too, there’s a lot of information that will be gathered from this system. So yeah, it’s a learning tool for all of our students.”

There are already several charging stations in Medicine Hat, including at Peavey Mart and the Kal Tire in Box Springs.

The Kal Tire installed theirs in 2012, in celebration for the 50th anniversary of the Trans-Canada Highway.

Manager Tony Bukmeier said it isn’t used all that often, but was something they wanted in order to better serve Medicine Hat.

Even when the charging station is used, the business said it hasn’t noticed any spikes in their utility bills.

While there aren’t many electric vehicles in Medicine Hat right now, Bukmeier said they are expecting to see a big increase in the next several years.

“Some of our larger commercial customers, their power units – the big tractors that drive around with the trailers and deliver our good and groceries and stuff, they’re going to electric power,” he explained.

“They’ve already got some vehicles on order, I haven’t seen any come through here yet, but it will be quite interesting to see.”

As more electric vehicles hit the road in our province there will be a need for more charging stations.

Bukmeier said he believes having a network of charging stations may encourage more people to consider getting an electric car.

The City of Medicine Hat plans to study the impact a charging station would have on the city-owned electric utility. It’s also hoping the charging station could encourage those with electric vehicles to visit Medicine Hat.

City Council will be reviewing the proposal at the next council meeting.

If the project gets the green light and funding from other levels of government, the charging station could be installed this summer.

by Leah Murray

City, College and businesses preparing for electric vehicle influx

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