Join us on May 25, 2017, at 1:30 PM for the official unveiling of Mississippi Mills’ first public electric vehicle (EV) charger.
A public-private partnership group, led by Mayor Shaun McLaughlin, sees the new charger as an encouragement for tourists and an example to residents.
The partnership brings together the Municipality of Mississippi Mills, Canadian Hydro Components (CHC), the Mississippi River Power Corp. (MRPC), and the Ottawa River Power Corporation (ORPC). MRPC generates electricity just 230 metres from the EV charger. Any driver using the EV charger can reasonably expect most of the electrons come from a renewable source.
“Electric vehicles are the future,” said Mayor McLaughlin. “We must embrace it, just as our town leaders did a century or so ago when they approved the first gas station. No one will drive to Almonte if they cannot refuel their vehicle.”
CHC installed the dual EV charger at the southwest corner of the CHC property for public use. CHC installed a second dual charger on its building for CHC employees. It is available to the public outside of office hours. CHC owner Mike Dupuis, his son Joseph (the project manager for the EV charger installation), and several CHC employees own electric cars and believe in promoting the technology.
The EV chargers include a monitoring and payment system. Users access the power by swiping a credit card. To encourage tourism, the first two hours are free. Users are billed $4 per hour for any additional hour or part of an hour. This arrangement encourages the use of the charger while discouraging people from monopolizing the spots for long periods. Mike Dupuis installed a tamper-proof receptacle to encourage people using the free EV charger to donate to the town’s Riverwalk expansion.
Users can locate the charger using available smartphone apps. Tourists have already used the charger and toured downtown Almonte as they waited for the recharge to complete. This is exactly the tourism-boosting scenario that the town’s Community and Economic Development Committee envisioned when it pledged to pay 60% of the $10,000 purchase and installation cost.
Background
Ontario provides a subsidy of up to $14,000 for new electric cars. The aim is to increase ownership to five per cent of all vehicle sales by 2020, moving to twelve per cent by 2025.
Solar and hydro installations located in Mississippi Mills have a combined peak capacity of 26.5 megawatts. That is more power than the town uses. Any owner of an electric vehicle recharged in this town can brag that their vehicle is running on green energy. An EV charging station is a natural fit, given the town’s green energy reputation.
For more information, contact:
Tiffany MacLaren
Municipality of Mississippi Mills
(613) 256-1077 ext. 22
