Cities want to charge ahead

Kitchener, Waterloo apply for funding to install electric-vehicle chargers

WATERLOO REGION — The cities of Kitchener and Waterloo hope to take advantage of new funding to install curbside chargers for 12 electrical vehicles on downtown streets.

A joint program by the federal Natural Resources department and FLO, a manufacturer of curbside charging stations, is offering five grants that would cover half the costs of buying and installing the stations.

The grants will be offered across the country, to the first five cities that apply, said Paul McCormick, Kitchener’s parking manager. Waterloo and Kitchener are planning a joint application for three chargers apiece. Each charger can handle two cars.

Councils in Kitchener and Waterloo voted on the proposal at their respective council meetings on Monday. If the joint application is approved for the grant, the cost to each city would be $32,500.

There are many benefits to installing the chargers, said Brad Witzel at the City of Waterloo. Electric vehicles reduce greenhouse gases and improve air quality, and sends a message that the region is innovative, he said. Boosting the number of charging stations also supports Waterloo’s plan to introduce electric vehicles in its fleet and could attract employers who want a range of sustainable transportation options.

The chargers themselves should increase awareness, he said. “They’ll be quite visible, and there’ll be lots of traffic around them, so it kind of helps identify electric vehicles as an alternative,” Witzel said.

Investing in sustainable transportation infrastructure is essential if the region is to meet its greenhouse gas targets, McCormick noted. Climate Action Waterloo Region found that vehicle ownership in the region rose twice as quickly as the pop-

ulation between 2010 and 2015.

Investing in bike lanes and public transit is part of the solution, but “we recognize that people are still going to be driving cars,” Witzel said.

The chargers would be able to fully charge a vehicle in about four hours and would cost $1.50 an hour to charge.

There’s no data on local numbers of electric vehicles, but Sustainable Waterloo Region estimates there are about 300 owners of electric vehicles in the region.

Across Ontario, 12,175 electric vehicles have been sold since 2013, according to FleetCarma, a company that promotes electric vehicles.

The number of chargers is slowly growing, McCormick said. In Kitchener alone, there are 12 public charging stations, able to handle up to 18 vehicles.

Use of the only city-owned electric charging station at the Charles and Benton parking garage has climbed steadily since it was installed three years ago, McCormick said.

The station was used for 91 charging sessions that first year, but the total to date is 565 sessions.