{"id":139452,"date":"2023-02-03T14:06:17","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T19:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=139452"},"modified":"2023-02-03T14:06:17","modified_gmt":"2023-02-03T19:06:17","slug":"different-technologies-and-different-price-tags-for-ev-charger-projects-in-amherst-and-sackville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/different-technologies-and-different-price-tags-for-ev-charger-projects-in-amherst-and-sackville\/","title":{"rendered":"Different technologies and different price tags for EV charger projects in Amherst and Sackville"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, the Town of Amherst announced it had installed two EV \u2018fast-charging\u2019 stations behind Amherst town hall, just off Laplanche Street. In a news release<\/a>, the town says the project cost about $23,000, an eye-popping number for anyone familiar with a Sackville-based project approved last year that will see a single fast charger installed for a much higher cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main difference between the two projects,\u201d says Tantramar climate change coordinator Brittany Cormier, \u201cis really summed up to the type of EV chargers and the electrical infrastructure, especially for our project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most charging stations installed these days are either level 2 or level 3. Level 2 is slower, charging a car in anywhere from four to 8 hours, depending on conditions. Level 3 is much faster, using a different technology to charge cars in anywhere from 30 minutes to one hour.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Different charger types as they are defined by Charge Hub<\/a>, a website and app dedicated to helping EV drivers finding charging stations.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the Amherst project involves two level 2 chargers, downtown Sackville will be home to a level 3, or DC fast charger. In addition to being faster than a level 2 charger, level 3s are also much more expensive, and often require electrical infrastructure upgrades. Tantramar is buying a Flo charger, compatible with NB Power\u2019s network, for a cost of $58,650. The electrical upgrades that need to happen in order for the Flo charger to be installed will cost another $118,203. The total project will cost just shy of $177,000, and with grants from NB Power and the provincial government, Tantramar will pay $72,567.<\/p>\n

In Amherst, CAO Jason MacDonald says the town went for Level 2 chargers, mostly because that\u2019s where funding was available. \u201cThe main consideration was the fact that there was a program where we could get a $5,000 per charger rebate from the government,\u201d says MacDonald. \u201cAnd it was for level 2 chargers only. So that\u2019s what drove the decision to go level 2.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brittany Cormier says that in Sackville, the charging speed figured heavily into the rationale for the project. \u201cThe thought is that it could serve multiple users in a day,\u201d says Cormier, \u201cversus just one or two,\u201d with a level 2 charger. Faster chargers encourage a quicker turnaround, and are a draw for EV travellers, says Cormier. \u201cThe chargers at Salisbury and the Magnetic Hill one in Moncton, they\u2019re always backed up huge lines in the summertime,\u201d says Cormier. \u201cSo once these get on the grid, it\u2019s very easy for an EV user to identify which ones are the fast ones, so they can go for those.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big piece and the big difference for this project comes down to the electrical infrastructure required,\u201d says Cormier. For starters, the project includes a permanent power source for the purposes of the Fall Fair, a project that was budgeted itself at $10,000. In addition, the project was \u201cdesigned to allow multiple EV chargers to be added after this is completed,\u201d says Cormier. \u201cIt enables us to be opportunistic in the future as funding becomes available that we can apply to increase our EV infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s something electrician Zac Wheeler calls \u201cfuture proofing.\u201d Wheeler lives in Sackville where he owns and operates Wheeler Electric. He\u2019s not an EV owner himself, yet, though he says he and his partner are considering that their next vehicle will be an EV. Wheeler has direct experience with EV chargers, having installed \u201cprobably 25 to 30\u201d type two chargers at private homes throughout the Moncton and Sackville area.<\/p>\n

Wheeler says he wasn\u2019t surprised by the price of the downtown Sackville charger project, given that it\u2019s a DC fast charger, and thinks the town made a wise choice going with the more expensive charger.<\/p>\n

\u201cI congratulate Sackville on going forward with a level 3,\u201d says Wheeler. \u201cI think it actually is a fantastic idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wheeler says he was happy to see the town step up to provide infrastructure downtown, to draw people off the highway for a different experience in \u2018fuelling up\u2019. \u201cI just think that we [have] the opportunity to rework how this infrastructure works,\u201d says Wheeler, \u201cand we can make it something completely different from what it is now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wheeler says the project also represents first steps. \u201cWe are going to need much more than just that within our town to maintain charging for EVs in the future,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Over in Amherst, Jason MacDonald is also hoping that the town\u2019s new EV chargers draw people in off the highway. And he hasn\u2019t ruled out a level 3 charger project for the future, depending on funding available.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure that if programs become available, and they\u2019re economically feasible for us, that we will look into that,\u201d says MacDonald. \u201cIf the private sector decides or takes take some steps to provide those services, then we might not have to, but if they aren\u2019t being provided, or if we need to do something to stimulate it, then we might be willing to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, the Town of Amherst announced it had installed two EV \u2018fast-charging\u2019 stations behind Amherst town hall, just off Laplanche Street. In a news release, the town says the project cost about $23,000, an eye-popping number for anyone familiar with a Sackville-based project approved last year that will see a single fast charger installed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":128870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[222,2602],"tags":[23152,23154,9036,15537,23151,23150,23155,23156,3619,23153],"radio":[227],"origine":[274,275,277],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139452"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139460,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139452\/revisions\/139460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139452"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=139452"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=139452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}