The Municipality of East Ferris is installing two charging stations for electric vehicles this summer outside of the Municipal Office at 25 Taillefer Road. Greg Kirton, the Director of Community Services for East Ferris, noted that installation should be complete by the end of July.
Purchasing and installing the charging stations won’t cost the municipality anything. Kirton detailed how all funding came from a grant from Earth Day Canada, which was sponsored by Aviva. The grant, entitled ‘Charged for Change,’ is worth $15,000 and pays for everything.
Currently, the charging stations are on order from FLO, a company that has been producing charging stations since 2009. As of today, there are 90,000 FLO charging stations throughout North America. There are 11 installed in North Bay.
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“Most makers of electric vehicle charging stations have a back order right now,” Kirton said, but everything should stay on track for the late July opening.
These will be the first public charging stations in East Ferris. Each will be a Level 2 charging station, which on average, charges a car’s battery to full in a few hours. Level 3 chargers are much faster, but cost in the $50 thousand range, and the grant only applied to Level 2 chargers.
Once installed, everyone is free to use it. The rate will be set, and drivers can pay at the pump. The municipality anticipated the arrival of these chargers, so when the new municipal office was built, wires were laid through the parking lot to where the chargers will be installed.
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
