Meaford is going to take a look at the possibility of installing electric vehicle (EV) chargers in municipally owned parking lots.
During a council meeting on April 25, a recommendation was brought forward by Coun. Harley Greenfield. It requested in addition to looking at potential locations for chargers, to also analyze costs and benefits associated with this proposal.
Greenfield says he was surprised to learn that as of fall 2021, there were only slightly over 1,600 charging stations in Ontario.
As of February 2022, the Ontario government says there are over 1,700 charging stations across the province.
“Just over half of them are in the GTA, so it doesn’t sound like they are popping up all over,” says Greenfield.
Greenfield adds with the construction of the Nelson Street parking lot project, it might be possible to set up an EV charging station in that area.
“There are people coming into the area with electric vehicles, whether they are coming to visit family or coming on business, or coming just to check out our beautiful place to be on Georgian Bay, a good number, an increasing number of them are driving EV’s, and they don’t have a place to recharge. Unfortunately the life of a charge is fairly limited,” says Greenfield.
Greenfield says he is looking for staff to bring back a feasibility report of putting a public charging station at Nelson Street or other locations.
“I’m not suggesting that these stations be freebies, I want that checked out. I guess I have a bit of a problem with our tax payers subsidizing somebody who is driving a $90,000 Tesla, I really have a problem with that,” says Greenfield.
Other councillors spoke up in support of this proposed report with Coun. Paul Vickers adding he had similar thoughts regarding EVs.
“Who pays for this as it gets bigger and bigger sort of thing. Will a person who lives a couple of blocks away just slip down to the municipal lot, plug their car in and no one is the wiser? So I think there is a lot of good information we could gleam from a report like this,” says Vickers.