ELECTRIC vehicles may soon have a place to power up in West Vancouver after council voted to apply for provincial funding to install charging stations at two of the municipality's community centres.
Councillors voted to support the plan at a meeting June 25. If Victoria approves the funding, charging stations will appear in parking lots at the West Vancouver and Gleneagles community centres before the end of March next year. The province would contribute up to $4,000 for each facility, covering a maximum of 75 per cent of the cost.
The proposal is part of a wider effort by the district to reduce greenhouse gasses substantially by 2020. It also meshes with its long-term transportation goals, according to a staff report presented at the meeting.
Supporting the charging stations means building the infrastructure of the future, said Coun. Trish Panz.
"Future generations will be driving electric, and putting in infrastructure now is essential," she said.
Coun. Nora Gambioli voiced similarly strong approval. "This is an absolute no-brainer," she said. "This is all over the place in Europe."
The motion included a call for new multi-family developments in the community to provide outlets for electric vehicles, ideally one for each unit.
Not everyone was fully supportive of the idea, however.
"We don't even know if we have any electric vehicles in West Vancouver," said Mayor Michael Smith. "We're spending $6,500 to be politically correct."
Applying for provincial funding will add to the debt faced by future generations, he added.
"I would remind everybody the province is in a deficit position," he said.
The idea is also shortsighted from a technological standpoint, said Smith.
"The technology would be out of date by the time we install it," he said. "The new technology is wireless charging."
Coun. Michael Lewis was similarly unconvinced. "It's way too vague for me," said Lewis. "It's a fine concept, but it really needs a whole lot more work."
Lewis joined the mayor as the only two voices on council opposed to the motion.
The City of Vancouver is scheduled to install 67 charging stations throughout the city by the end of 2013.
