After some initial interest, the Town of Bonnyville will no longer be looking into installing an electric vehicle charger.
Council made the choice after seeing the new grant funding would only cover 46 per cent, or up to $5,000 of the cost of a new EV charger. There are four EV charging stations located in Bonnyville at Bonnyville Centralized High School, Comfort Inn, Ducharme Motors, and Bonnyville Dodge.
In February 2022 council approved an expression of interest for the electric vehicle charger when the project was fully funded. The first submission by council was unsuccessful and now a new program has been introduced called the Southgrow Regional Initiative, Electric Vehicle Charging Program.
The estimated cost of the installation project sits at $22,153.
Councillor Phil Kushnir says he is unsure if now is the right time.
“I don’t know if we need it right now and maybe there are more of these programs coming down the pipe. The first one was 100% and now we are down to 46%. I just don’t know.”
Mayor Elisa Brosseau said they would rather have a well-fleshed-out plan if this is the direction but also highlighted the electric vehicle charger does not fall into the list of priorities.Â
“I would rather see administration focus on the priorities we have already set out. If it is something that comes up through economic development or tourism and then we feel like this is the direction we want to go in I would rather see us go for a quicker charging station.”
Council chose not to make a motion and not move forward with the expression of interest for the grant.
