Electric car owners can now charge their vehicles for free thanks to the city’s first public charging station.
City crews installed an electric vehicle charge station on the back of the St. Albert Business Centre (a.k.a the old CIBC building) earlier this month. The station is free to use for anyone who has an electric vehicle.
Ron Simonsmeier, electric car owner and head of Alberco Construction, said he donated the station to the city to promote electric vehicles. “I think it’s great for the community and great for the environment.”
The city saw the station as a chance to draw tourists to St. Albert, said city environmental co-ordinator Meghan Myers. “The hope is that people will park here, charge their vehicle and get to experience downtown St. Albert.”
The station, and its reserved parking spot, will be open to the public from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Myers said. The city will pick up the electricity bill, which will probably work out to about $5 per charge.
The roughly $2,000 unit comes from a group called Sun Country Highway, Simonsmeier said, which is working to create a network of chargers across Canada. It cranks out about 60 amps of juice – enough to add 80 kilometres of range to a car in an hour –and works with most models of electric car. To use it, you simply plug in your car and push a button.
The new station fits in with the city’s just-passed Energy Action Plan, which calls on the city to offer public charging stations.
It’s the second public station in St. Albert, Simonsmeier said – the other one is at his Alberco office in Riel Park – not counting the ones at some car dealerships. Edmonton has a handful of stations, while the Edmonton Remand Centre has 14.
The station’s location isn’t ideal, Myers admitted – they had to put it in the back of the building instead of in the more-visible front due to logistics. She also wasn’t sure how many electric vehicles were currently in St. Albert.
But these stations aren’t necessarily meant for locals, Simonsmeier said. “People in town like myself … will charge at home,” he said, noting that he rarely uses the station at Alberco for his car. “It’s for people visiting town.” Those tourists will use sites such as Plugshare to find the station’s exact location, making it easy to find. The city plans to have a formal celebration of the station this October, Myers said.
Lois Hole Park will have washrooms and a picnic shelter by the end of the month, says a parks official.
Construction of a picnic shelter and a washroom building started earlier this week at the south end of the John E. Poole interpretive wetland.
Both buildings are meant to support current users of the park, said Andy Van Imschoot, regional director of the west central region for Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation.
“The washroom facility will be a basic vault toilet,” he said, with no running water or sewer connection. The wooden shelter will be similar to a garage, with two side doors and large main one. It won’t have electricity, but it will wired for a generator.
The two buildings are part of the province’s ongoing plan to develop the Poole wetland, Van Imschoot said, and collectively cost about $100,000. They’re currently looking for sponsors to build a road and parking lot to the place.
Expect the concrete pad for both buildings to be poured Monday, Van Imschoot said. Both buildings should be complete by the end of the month.
The two buildings are the first of their kind to be built in Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park.
A local conservation group hopes city residents will join them to celebrate 75 years of ducks.
Ducks Unlimited is holding its Diamond Signature Gala this November in Edmonton. The event, which includes a silent auction, is the ninth such gala held this year to commemorate the group’s 75th anniversary.
Ducks Unlimited has been active around Big Lake since the 1940s, said spokesperson Ian McFarlane. “Farmers around the lake were complaining about fluctuating water levels and flooding,” he said, and the group was looking at a dam or weir.
Big Lake became a significant conservation area in the 1980s as part of the Wetlands for Tomorrow project, he continued. The lake is now home to the John E. Poole interpretive boardwalk and a 400-acre Ducks Unlimited wetland preserve.
The gala is this Nov. 14 at the Westin Edmonton. Tickets are $250, with proceeds going towards wetland conservation in Alberta. For details, call Maureen Schnirer at 780-930-1252.
