Council has directed staff to apply for funding to install two electrical vehicle charging stations.
If successful, the city plans to put them in the thrift store parking lot.
Coun. Kathy Moore supported the plan in Monday night’s meeting.
“I think this is a great initiative moving forward, where we’ll be able to get electric cars to come and visit us on their way between Vancouver and Calgary and anywhere else,” Moore said.
Moore wanted clarification of whether they would be applying for a level 3 or level 2 charging station.
The difference is in the time it takes to charge an electric vehicle.
A level 2 charging station utilizes 220 volt power to charge the vehicle up in 4-8 hours, while the level three is significantly more powerful, charging vehicles in 30 minutes.
However, the level 3 stations are not yet widely available and are focused for roadside rest stops along highways.
Rossland will be applying to put in level 2 stations.
“I’m really glad to see, this is a progressive, proactive initiative by the city,” Moore continued.
Mayor Greg Granstrom did note that the city has other concerns than electric vehicle charging at the moment.
“In this time of parking, if you dedicate two parking spots to two electric vehicles than those electric vehicles will use it,” Granstrom said.
Coun. Kathy Wallace said she had the same concern, but wanted to see the application go through.
“I’m certainly in support of applying for the grants and seeing what happens, and it would be a way of getting Rossland on the map so to speak,” Wallace said.
“But we have had such a discussion in the community on parking stalls and we have a beautiful new thrift store parking lot. If we dedicate a couple of those stalls to this then I assume they can’t be used for simple straight parking.”
Vandalism concerns were also brought up.
“I think if the motion is to apply for the grants and then there will no doubt be some issues that we need to discuss,” Granstrom said. “I think the first issue is to apply for the grant so we can get the money.”
Coun. Jill Spearn agreed with the analysis.
“I think it’s a good initiative. It’s interesting, but I wish there could have been something more visual about it,” she said. “It’s incredibly progressive, I don’t think there is anyone else in our region who has applied or is applying.”
Spearn also noted the provinces plan to have charging stations all over British Columbia in the near future.
“They will seemingly be around the whole province, so I think it sets our province up for success also as far as sustainability and the future goes,” Spearn said.
“I think we’d be remiss if we didn’t apply for the grant.”