Kelowna

Photo: Ragnar Haagen

The new electric charging stations are outside the main entrance of the Kelowna campus of Okanagan College.

Electric vehicles are becoming more popular each year with more refined models coming off the assembly lines for consumers seeking low cost transportation as gasoline prices continue to rise.

What is not happening as quickly is the installation of charging stations in cities and neighborhoods for owners of electric cars.

Okanagan College is set to change that, and will be installing 10 charging stations between now and March 31 at its various campuses.

“It’s our responsibility as a College to foster a culture of sustainable transportation,” says Rob St. Onge, Energy Specialist at Okanagan College.

“Installing these charging stations is just one of the things we’re doing to encourage people to think differently about transportation.”

There will be four stations at the Kelowna campus and two at each of the campuses in Penticton, Vernon and Salmon Arm. They will be available to the public at the same rate as visitor parking fees and will take four hours for a full charge, but batteries can be partially recharged for shorter periods of time without losing any battery power.

Okanagan College was one of the first schools in the province to take advantage of the initiative, which is part of the Ministry of Environment’s $2.7 million Community Charging Infrastructure Fund. It aims to have 570 charging stations installed province-wide.

The province pays up to $4,000 per station with the college investing the remainder of the cost at approximately $1,000 per unit.