On Thursday (July 27), Committee of the Whole approved of a plan that will see the installation of Level 2 electric vehicle charging points in Wellington, Bloomfield, and Picton.

County staff reported that 100 per cent of the charger’s installation costs will be covered by the Earth Day Canada/Aviva Charged for Change funding program, in which Prince Edward County was one of the successful applicants.

The charging points will be located at the Wellington and District Community Centre (two charging spaces), the Bloomfield parking lot (one charging space), and the Prince Edward Community Centre/Picton Fairgrounds (two charging spaces).

According to the associated staff report from the Community Services, Programs and Initiatives Department  , the Level 2 charging points are intended to be mid-range chargers that can supply from 15-100 kilometres of range per hour of charging time (based on charger type and vehicle) and are best employed in areas where electric vehicles will be parked for 2+ hours.

North Marysburgh Councillor David Harrison queried staff about whether they should be focusing instead on installing much faster Level 3 charging infrastructure across these locations. In response, Programs Supervisor Julianne Snepsts said that the county does not currently have funding secured for the more efficient but much more expensive charging technology, though a potential public-private partnership is being examined to install them along with other fast chargers that are potentially coming to local big box stores and gas stations in the near future.

"We are looking at a model that would involve private sector partnership that would allow us to bring level 3 charging to the County, sometime in the future."

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