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By Halyna Mihalik
Electric vehicle users in Saskatoon are in luck.
The City of Saskatoon announced the launch of two new free electric vehicle charging stations Tuesday. The stations are located at the Lawson and Lakewood civic centres.
Amber Weckworth, the city’s manager of climate, strategy and data, shared the reasoning behind the locations.
“It’s a convenient place to leave your car for two to three hours and get a charge,” said Weckworth.
Amber Weckworth, the City of Saskatoon’s manager of climate, demonstrating an electric car charging station on May 30, 2023. (Halyna Mihalik/650 CKOM)
She explained the amount of parking in the lots at those civic centres gave the city the proper space to put the stations. Places like the Field House, where parking spaces are already quite limited, may have been a more difficult place to implement a station.
More locations around the city will be considered.
These charging stations are set as a trial run, which is why they are currently free. After the two-year mark, the cost will be re-evaluated.
“The reason that we’ve made them free for now is really so we can test out how it works. If people are interested in this, if this is a good location, (we’ll consider) what other locations we might want to do them at,” said Weckworth.
This is all part of Saskatoon’s low-emission plan to improve the city environmentally. The popularity of electric cars has been on the rise in Saskatchewan.
According to SGI statistics, there were 661 registered vehicles that were battery and hybrid electric in Saskatoon in 2022. This number is expected to have grown in 2023.
Although users can use the station at any time, stations are limited to a three-hour charge to help ensure that everyone gets a fair turn. If problems arise with sharing the stations, users are recommended to call the city’s complaint line.
“It’s a nice top-off if you’re using the leisure centre or if you’re walking over to the mall,” said Weckworth.
–Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct a statistic on the number of electric vehicles in Saskatoon.