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New West partners with BCIT on pilot project

New Westminster is charged up about a new partnership with BCIT.
Leona Green electric car
Electric cars, like the one owned by Leona Green of Greens and Beans Deli Café in Sapperton, may benefit from a partnership between the City of New Westminster and BCIT.

New Westminster is charged up about a new partnership with BCIT.

The city is partnering with the BCIT smart microgrid applied research team on a pilot project that will evaluate the technical and operational aspects of integrating curbside electric vehicle charging points tied into the city’s streetlight infrastructure. The research and demonstration initiative will see up to 12 ground-level, Level 2 electric vehicle charging stations created in New West.

“It’s an interesting pilot project,” said Mayor Jonathan Cote. “I think it demonstrates how the city is reaching out to post-secondary education facilities to partner on these types of innovative projects.”

Norm Connolly, the city’s community energy manager, said BCIT staff first discussed the project with staff about a year ago.

“At the time there was an application for funding, which was successful. So here we are a year later, embarking on this project,” he said. “The only criteria on this is maybe 10 to 12 Level 2 electric vehicle charging stations will be installed either curbside or street side.”

Connolly said the city’s contribution to the project is connection to the electric utility. He said a Level 2 charging station is similar to the one located at city hall and offers a “relatively fast” charge to vehicles.

Coun. Chuck Puchmayr said his electric car takes about four to five hours to fully charge at Level 2. While it’s a great initiative, he said the “real push” is going to be for quick-charging capacity.

 “Where I see the deficiency and I speak to other councillors as well in other cities, they are all putting in the Level 2 chargers, but there are very few Level 3 chargers, which is what I think we need,” he said.

“When we have people who want to come from Chilliwack to New West to do business and then drive back again, you are not going to want to sit for four or five hours waiting to go back home again.”

If you have an electric vehicle or want to buy one, the City of New Westminster and BCIT want to hear from you as they’re gathering information to determine the best locations for the charging stations. People are invited to provide feedback before Oct. 30 via a quick online survey. It can be found at http://bcit.fluidsurveys.com/surveys/bcit-ltc/ev-survey/