A recent report presented to North Perth Council brought forward some opportunities to get funding to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the area.
Manager of Environmental Services Mark Hackett says there are opportunities from the province to help municipalities and counties build on the ever expanding charging networks for electric vehicles.
"There's some opportunities for some funding from the provincial government for either level 2 chargers or level 3's, so it was an opportunity for the municipality to get some funding to be able to put that infrastructure there as we build toward more electric vehicles coming our way over the next few years," Hackett said.
Hackett notes there are some already available, including some private ones for public use, as well as some municipal chargers.
"So we also have a municipal level 2 charger in the Inkerman Street parking lot, near Inkerman and Wallace Avenue in Listowel. There's a couple that are provided at the Westfield Elementary School. There's two level 2 chargers there, as well," Hackett shared.
The province has introduced a number of funding programs for this sort of infrastructure over the last number of years. One such program was the Rural Recharge, and through that North Perth will be getting one new level 3 charger, but this round of funding, as Hackett notes, will allow them to pursue even more new chargers.
"That's one of the ones that we'll be looking at getting in the next year, but we're also looking at expanding the level 2 chargers in this area," added Hackett. "Right now we have the availability of the Steve Kerr (Memorial Complex), when it was built it had the panel available and the conduit to get the wiring to the charging stations put in while it was built so it's basically ready to go. So that's why we're looking to add to the Steve Kerr site as we try to increase the number of chargers we have available in Perth County."
This round of funding must be spent fairly soon, and Hackett says they're basically ready to start the work at the Steve Kerr Memorial Complex.
"So this project, the funding has to be used up by the end of March in 2024, so we're basically ready to go now. You'll probably see these chargers go in over the next two or three months, the level 2 chargers at the Steve Kerr Memorial Complex," Hackett explained.
Hackett says with the provincial program covering half, the municipality will pay about $13,000 to have the new chargers installed. He adds they plan on exploring more funding options to even further expand the electric vehicle charging network in the local area next year, including maybe at the Elma Logan Arena in Monkton, which is next to the G2G trail.
