Residents and visitors to Oakville now have more places to charge their electric vehicles (EVs), following the installation of 16 new dual-wand charging stations, bringing the number of Level 2 charging stations throughout town to 23, for a total of 46 spaces offering electric vehicle charging.
The charging stations are conveniently spread around town with 20 connections available in commercial shopping districts and 26 at town community centres and Town Hall.
By creating a community-wide network of EV charging stations the town hopes to enable more people to make the switch to electric vehicles to help meet the town's goal to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50 per cent by 2041.
The network of chargers was made possible in part through $220,000 in funding from the Government of Canada's Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program (ZEVIP) in 2020. The town's portion of $348,000 was approved as part of the 2020 Capital Budget.
Oakville was one of the first municipalities to receive funding through ZEVIP, installing the first few units in October 2020.
A fee for using the charging stations helps cover the ongoing energy, maintenance and operating expenses. Chargers located in municipal paid-parking spaces in the business improvement areas such as Downtown Oakville, Kerr Village and Bronte Village, have an integrated system so that motorists will pay one fee for both charging and parking.
The EV charging stations complement a number of programs in place to support Council's climate emergency declaration and the Oakville Energy Task Force's Community Energy Strategy.
For more information, visit oakville.ca.
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"Providing easy access for electric vehicles is one more way we are working to decrease Oakville's overall greenhouse gas emissions and making measurable strides towards a more livable future."
- Mayor Rob Burton
