Photo: Contributed

An electric vehicle sits charging at one of two new electric vehicle charging sites which opened in Vernon. The North Okanagan community currently leads the way with three charging stations.

The City of Vernon has added two more electric vehicle charging stations in the city, and they are open for business. These are the second and third electric vehicle charging stations in this North Okanagan community.

Vernon landmark business, Kal Tire, also has a fully operational charging station as well.

Meanwhile, in Kelowna, there are currently at least a half dozen charging stations in full operational capacity: Four of these are located at Okanagan College on KLO Road, while another was just recently installed at Kelowna General Hospital.

The City of Vernon’s new EV plug charging stations are located at the Community Services Building (CSB) visitor parking lot accessed off 30 Street (3001 32 Avenue). Look for the EV charging station signage.

Currently, there is no fee to charge. There is a small fee for parking, however.

Available hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday excluding statutory holidays.

Construction of the new facilities was made possible, in large part, by an ECO grant from the province and the community charging infrastructure fund.

Vernon Mayor Rob Sawatzky said, “We are grateful to the BC Ministry of Environment and the Fraser Basin Council for this grant. This electric vehicle charging station gives tourists and residents the opportunity to explore getting away from gas-powered vehicles.”

“The City of Vernon is showing leadership by offering electric vehicle charging,” said David Marshall, executive director for the Fraser Basin Council, which administers the provincial community charging infrastructure fund. “About 450 new charging stations are now available in community and business locations province wide, and that makes going electric vehicles a viable option for more drivers.

"A shift to electric vehicles also means fewer carbon emissions and better air quality for everyone,” he added.

Anyone wishing to locate charging stations can go onto the website www.Plugshare.com which lists and locates most of the stations in North America.