Peter Fragiskatos, Member of Parliament for London North Centre, on behalf of Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, announced a $2-million investment in EPCOR Utilities to help install up to 200 electric vehicle (EV) chargers in the rural counties surrounding London Ontario and in the South Georgian Bay area within the coming year.
This investment will go toward Level 2 and Level 3 chargers, which are the fastest of the three classes of charging stations and make EV charging more accessible in these rural areas.
EPCOR Utilities, through its Go EV program, is now accepting applications from businesses, municipalities and multi-unit residential buildings (MURBS) by March 31 to receive up to 50 percent of the costs associated with purchasing and installing charging stations, up to a total of $100,000 each.
After a transparent process based on demand, all EV chargers will then be installed in public places, multi-unit residential buildings, on streets and at workplaces or facilities for servicing light-duty vehicle fleets by March 2023.
Investments in charging infrastructure made so far will result in more than 25,000 new chargers, coast to coast.
Electric cars continue to break records around the world — global sales more than doubled in 2021 despite supply chain challenges. As many electric cars are now sold in the space of a week as in the whole year of 2012.
Level 2 chargers operate at a 208 / 240 V connector, of which many are installed in public places, workplaces, homes and MURBs, translate to an average of 30 km of range per hour charged. Level 3 chargers (also known as direct current fast-chargers) use a 480 V system; are installed along the national highway system and in public places, workplaces, on-street, fleets and MURBS; and can provide over 250 km of range per hour charged. ■
A very active and complex mid-May weather pattern is set to produce numerous areas of severe weather, heavy rain, high winds, and anomalous temperatures through this weekend.