Town councillors in Antigonish have taken the first step toward adding more electric vehicle charging stations.
They voted to apply for funding to add 20 of the stations within the town’s electric grid at September’s regular town council meeting Monday night.
There are three electric charges stations in Antigonish currently- two at StFX, one at Antigonish Market Square.
After the meeting, Laurie Boucher, the town’s mayor, said they want to be ahead of the curve.
“We want to be somewhere where people can charge their cars,” she said. “It’s a great reason to come off the highway, and stop in and have supper while your car is charging, or go shopping while your car is charging, or play golf, or if you’re at the (Antigonish) Arena, why not charge your car?”
Boucher said the funding application for the roughly $170,000 project will go to the Pan Maritime Province Municipal Electric Vehicle Charging Initiative; if approved, town officials would pay half.
She said they’ll wait for funding approval, then finalize locations for the stations.
“It might be talking to some of the store owners, it might be talking to some of the places where they want them to go,” she said. “Some of (the areas are) municipally-owned, anyway.”
Boucher said the project would be part of their 2020-21 budget.
