Electric cars could drive Regina into a becoming a greener city. Sun Country Highway Ltd wants to donate EV chargers to Regina. The city won’t have to pay anything but the cost to hire an electrician to install them.
Regina city councillor Wade Murray is in support of EV and charging stations. “As a municipality we should encourage the movement towards a greener more sustainable future. The electric cars bring us that,” he said.
SCH is a Sasaktoon-based company with a goal to promote economic and environmental sustainability through encouragement of electric vehicles in Canada and abroad, according to its website.
In Regina, the SCH currently has charging locations installed at Best Western Seven Oaks Inn, Delta Regina downtown and Peavey Mart in the east end, with the Northgate Mall coming soon.
SGI reports that there are approximately 119 electric cars and roughly 2,212 hybrid vehicles registered in Saskatchewan.
James Dennis, regional director of business development for SCH, said that the impact of EV charging stations go beyond Regina's city limits.
Businesses have installed them because it attracts EV owners to their business, said Murray. Businesses are basically donating their power to EV drivers, he added.
Since the EV needs to charge for a few hours, drawing people to the city for a short period of time, they will eat, or go to local tourist sites and spend money locally, helping boost tourism, said Dennis.
Wade Murray said the chargers will help address anxiety, when people fear running out of power on a journey.
When your car is charged you know when the next time you will need to plug in. By knowing this, you are able to plan out what cities or small communities you will need to stop in to charge your car, said Murray.
“It’s not just the amount that is in the city, it’s also having access for people to travel coast-to-coast and having places to stop and charge their vehicles. It’s helping embrace eco-tourism to make the city more economic, social and environmentally sustainable,” said Dennis.
Dennis said there is little to no noise-pollution and zero tailpipe emissions with EV vehicles. Encouraging more plug-in locations can increase the popularity of EV car purchases in the province, hopefully leading to a more sustainable method of transportation, he added.
