CANMORE – A project to install two electric vehicle chargers at each of Elevation Place and the recreation centre was cancelled.
Council approved at its July 2 meeting the end of the capital project after Town staff said initial quotes were nearly double the $40,000 budget.
“Through the process, it was also noted that there would be benefit in pausing this project for now to better understand the Town’s long-term approach and strategy to provide public EV charging stations,” stated a staff report.
Geordie Heal, supervisor of streets and roads with the Town, said the increase in budget – roughly $30,000 – came from increases in material supplies and labour.
He said private company approached the Town to install two Level 2 and four Level 3 chargers at Elevation Place at its own expense and in exchange for parking revenue for those chargers. The third-party company asked for a 13-year contract, Heal said.
“This raised some fundamental questions as we moved through the project,” he said.
The report noted Town staff posed questions of whether a municipality should provide EV charging stations; where charging stations should be located; how many would be needed and if third-party partnerships are an opportunity.
“Cancelling this project will allow administration time to review approaches to installation of EV chargers at Town facilities, and to consider how best to do so from a strategic perspective,” according to the report. “There are also third-party partnership opportunities that may have financial benefit to the Town that should be explored.”
An alternative was for council to spend funds on one station at either the recreation centre or Elevation Place. The staff report had the recreation centre as the preferred choice since it has no existing chargers.
The original budget project summary indicated chargers be user-pay to offset capital costs.
“We think it’s an opportunity to step back and refine our look at EV infrastructure build-out throughout the community; looking to better understand the Town’s role in this space and at what capacity,” Heal said, adding more information on the number of chargers, locations, charger types and alignment with existing Town policies was needed.
He also highlighted if it should solely be done by the Town, private sector or a mixture of the two, clarification would be needed.
Among the strategies in the Climate Emergency Action Plan – approved for planning purposes by council earlier in the same meeting – there was developing an EV charger installation incentive program with a timeline of two to five years and requiring all new residential and commercial developments to be 100 per cent EV ready.
The budget project summary stated a 2021 KPMG survey indicated 68 per cent of Canadians who were going to buy a new vehicle in the next five years were likely to buy electric, but charging was a barrier.
The project summary outlined EV chargers at key public locations could aid in people charging their vehicle and visiting community facilities.
Part of the Climate Action Plan – which was rescinded by council at the same July 2 meeting and replaced with the Climate Emergency Action Plan – it had a focus on supporting building out EV infrastructure in Canmore.
Though the Climate Emergency Action Plan emphasized the role of the municipality and community partners to prioritize the shift to electric-based infrastructure, Mayor Sean Krausert said a “pause, step back and reflect” was needed.
“Based on new information, maybe we need to consider approach, particularly in the public realm, should it be the Town providing that infrastructure or something else,” he said. “That’s an important question to investigate.”
