Get charged up at YLW
Kirk Penton - Jun 24, 2019 - Biz Releases

A recent study found a good chunk of British Columbians are apprehensive about buying an electric vehicle due to range anxiety.

In other words, they are nervous they won’t be able to get where they’re going in their electric vehicle due to a lack of charging stations throughout the province or country.

Kelowna International Airport isn’t exactly out in the middle of nowhere, but the driving financial forces behind two new fast-charging stations at YLW—and 10 more around the southern Interior—believe the technology will help the push to relieve that anxiety.

“We’re laying these out across the southern Interior, and they’re really designed for those long trips,” FortisBC vice-president of market development and external relations Doug Stout said. “You can pop in, charge your car quickly on a long trip and carry on again. It takes care of that range anxiety. You get probably 300 to 400 kilometres on a charge. Pop into one of these, and off you go again.”

The two new stations, which are being billed as Kelowna’s first two public charging locations, cost $9 for a half-hour charge, which is more than enough time to fully charge a compact electric vehicle. YLW has also installed a level-two charging station, which requires three to four hours of time to fully charge your ride.

“Installing these EV charging stations will ensure the airport is accessible to a growing number of vehicles in the Okanagan that come out to the airport on a regular basis,” YLW air service development manager Phillip Elchitz said.

FortisBC’s other 10 fast-charging stations will be installed at Rutland Centennial Park along Highway 33, Kelowna Museum, Beaverdell, Osoyoos, Cawston, Rossland, Nelson, Kaslo, New Denver and Nakusp. They are scheduled to be operational by the end of the summer.

“I’ll put a challenge out to our co-funders here—federally and provincially—where our target’s to put another 23 on top of that by the end of 2020 throughout our service territory in the Okanagan, Kootenay and boundary areas to make highway travel easy for everybody in their new electric vehicles,” Stout said.

Kelowna-Lake Country MP Stephen Fuhr touted his government’s $60 billion contribution to help the environment while vowing it will do everything it can to ensure the electric charging vehicle grid makes coast-to-coast travel possible.

“This infrastructure, as it’s built out and distributed throughout the province and across the country, it’s going to change everything,” Fuhr said. “You’re going to see electric vehicles really pick up.

“The big hold back right now is infrastructure, and this is a problem that we’re trying to solve together as a group.”

Fuhr also made sure to point out the Conservative government in Ontario isn’t exactly doing the same thing.

“I can tell you how we’re doing compared to Ontario, because Doug Ford’s pulling these things out of the ground in Ontario and we’re putting them in,” Fuhr said. “So we recognize the value in this province of having an infrastructure for electric vehicles and we’re going to aggressively pursue that.”


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