Just over 10 years ago, a collection of local politicians in the Kootenay region of B.C. realized they were missing out on a major opportunity: electric vehicles (EV)—or at least the investments, business, and infrastructure that came with them.
At that time, most of the funding and private investment in EV charging stations was being funnelled into B.C.’s Lower Mainland and Okanagan regions, the province’s most populous areas. Almost no money was being invested in EV charging stations throughout southeastern B.C.
Yet, in rural areas, such as Kootenay, which covers 58,000 square kilometres, there tends to be less public transit and more reliance on driving.
The group of local politicians, known as the Highway 3 Mayors’ and Chairs’ Coalition (named after the 841-kilometre highway that stretches through Southern B.C.), recognized that the region was being left behind. Without easily accessible charging stations, EVs weren’t realistic for residents.
There was also the issue of tourism. Without EV charging stations, tourists driving EVs were unable to visit the area without the risk of running out of battery.
To solve the problem, the coalition partnered with the Community Energy Association, a B.C.-based non-profit trying to reduce emissions and conserve energy. Together, the two groups launched Accelerate Kootenays.
“The whole point of this project was to facilitate infrastructure installation in places where the private market hasn’t come yet,” says Danielle Wiess, the Community Energy Association’s director of transportation initiatives. “The not-so-beaten path needs to incentivize.”
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The Community Energy Association helped the coalition raise $1.98 million in investments, while also assisting with choosing site locations, determining user experience, and selecting the type of charging infrastructure.
By 2019, the Kootenay area had installed 13 Level 3 chargers, which can fully charge an EV in about 30 minutes, and 40 Level 2 chargers, which can add approximately 50 kilometres of range per hour charged. The infrastructure covered 1,870 kilometres of highway, with charging stations strategically placed in towns to bolster tourism.
“We’ve taken this practice to all of our projects,” says Wiess. “Let’s not just put charging infrastructure at service stops and highway corridors. Let’s put charging infrastructure near the spots in a community that you want to show off to visitors, and also that residents like to go to.”
Accelerate Kootenays has now entered the second phase of its project. The coalition plans to add an additional eight Level 3 chargers and 90 Level 2 chargers.
Word of the program’s success spread, and soon the Community Energy Association was helping facilitate EV infrastructure projects in other rural communities. Forty-three local governments in Northern B.C., stretching from south of Kamloops to Haida Gwaii, banded together to launch Charge North. With the Community Energy Association’s help, Charge North has managed to install 30 Level 3 chargers and 120 Level 2 chargers across 2,780 kilometres of highway.
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The Community Energy Association has also worked with communities in Southern Alberta, launching Peaks to Prairies. This group has installed 20 charging stations from Canmore to Medicine Hat, Waterton, and the Crowsnest Pass.
The Community Energy Association’s most recent EV project is working with a group of communities in Southern Ontario. The partnership includes the County of Wellington, County of Dufferin, County of Perth, County of Huron, Bruce County, County of Grey, the City of Guelph, and the City of Stratford. The region currently has 22 Level 3 chargers and 145 Level 2 chargers for public use. The group wants to build an additional 17 Level 3 chargers and at least 52 Level 2 chargers.
Each previous project has made the Community Energy Association better at achieving a new group’s goals. And most often, the groups want the same things: they want to make EV ownership more realistic for rural residents, they want to make it easier for people to visit the region, and they want to contribute to reducing carbon emissions.
According to Wiess, the main thing that’s made these projects possible is rural communities collaborating with one another, pooling their resources. One charging station in a single town is far less appealing than a network of charging stations spread across multiple towns.
“Initiating the collaboration is often the hardest part, because no one is certain who should take the lead,” says Wiess. “But it doesn’t mean that you need to be the leader forever. You just need someone to say, ‘Let’s do this.’”
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