By Roszan Holmen - Victoria News
Victoria needs to take advantage of new provincial money earmarked for electric-vehicle charging stations, says an advocate for the low-emission technology.
“If the City of Victoria wants to encourage more electric vehicles, then the city needs more charging stations,” said Cam Rawlinson, founding member of the Islands chapter of the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association.
Creating more stations would help promote the vehicles, he said, noting that similar facilities could be set up for users of electric bikes or mobility scooters.
“These are all options that allow an aging population to become mobile and not to pollute,” he said. “The city right now probably has one-tenth of the necessary stations in order to encourage people to adopt electricity as an alternate fuel to gasoline.”
The province is currently seeking a private administrator to manage a $2.7-million Community Charging Infrastructure Fund.
Municipal, regional and First Nations governments and institutions will be invited to apply for money to install charging stations until March 31, 2013.
“It will take considerable time and strong policies to bring new clean-energy vehicles … into the mainstream market,” read the Ministry of Environment’s request for proposals, which closed last week.
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