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New electric vehicle charging station slated for city hall parking lot

Work is expected to get underway in June
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Williams Lake city hall parking lot will be getting an electric vehicle charger thanks to a program funded by BC Hydro, the federal and provincial governments. BC Hydro photo

An electrical vehicle charging station is going to be installed in the City Hall parking lot.

Milo MacDonald, the City’s CAO, said during Tuesday’s regular council meeting that work on the new station should begin in the next few weeks.

“It will be able to charge a vehicle in 40 minutes,” MacDonald said.

BC Hydro community relations co-ordinator Dave Mosure said it will be a level three charging station and that there are similar projects already underway in Cache Creek, Clinton and 70 Mile House.

The cost of each station is $150,000 with $50,000 coming from the federal government, $25,000 from the provincial government and $75,000 from BC Hydro, Mosure said, adding that Williams Lake was picked because it is a natural point for a station along the Highway 97 corridor.

“The goal is to have a charging station every 60 kilometres so you will also see them in Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure rest stops along the highway.”

Read more: B.C. Hydro powering up for more electric vehicle charging demand

Thompson Rivers University Williams Lake installed a charging station in 2013 which was upgraded in 2016 to a level two.

During Tuesday’s council meeting, Coun. Craig Smith said while attending the Transit Council Conference last week in Kamloops, he learned that BC Transit’s long-term goal is to have electric buses.

“They are mostly diesel now, going to natural gas then renewable natural gas and then electric,” Smith said. “Small towns like ours will eventually just jump to electric buses but that would be in 10-years plus.”



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Monica Lamb-Yorski

About the Author: Monica Lamb-Yorski

A B.C. gal, I was born in Alert Bay, raised in Nelson, graduated from the University of Winnipeg, and wrote my first-ever article for the Prince Rupert Daily News.
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