Photo: Wayne Moore / FILE
Kelowna’s desire to get people out of vehicles and onto other modes of transport may seem unrealistic in the short or medium term.
After all, the residents of Kelowna collectively own more vehicles per capita than any other city in Canada, and collectively travel to and from the moon twice a day of the week.
However, it may be feasible to get them to switch from gasoline or diesel to electric.
However, Chris Ray, a communal energy specialist in Kelowna, says there are some hurdles to overcome.
Some of these, like costs and available models, are beyond the city’s control, but Ray told the city council on Monday that it was the city’s purview to make charging stations more accessible.
Ray made 39 recommendations the city can adopt to make electric vehicle ownership more attractive.
Many of them surrounded the availability of charging stations on both public and private property.
“The ability to charge at home is the main reason, but many new buildings are built with no or insufficient charging infrastructure,” says Ray.
It is recommended that by 2023 all new multi-unit designs would require charging sockets at every booth, while new gas stations would also be required to provide alternative forms of fueling.
By then, 10 percent of the new commercial parking garages would also have to be EV-capable, while current multi-purpose residential buildings must provide sufficient charging infrastructure by 2030.
The change would be costly if approved by upcoming zoning changes, Ray said.
He told the city council that the cost of installing any of the different types of charging options could be anywhere from $ 300 to $ 3,000 per booth for new builds and up to $ 6,800 for retrofitting existing buildings.
“We want to help Kelowna meet or exceed federal and provincial zero-emission vehicle sales targets, 10 percent by 2025, 30 percent by 2030, and 100 percent (nationwide) by 2035.
“While electric vehicles are not the panacea for transportation that can solve all traffic problems in our city, accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles and e-bikes in the community is absolutely critical from a climate change perspective to meet our greenhouse gas emissions targets.”
Ray says BC. is pioneering the expansion of electric vehicles and offers lower fuel costs, fewer emissions, more efficiency and less maintenance, as well as less noise pollution.
He says sales of electric vehicles will outperform the internal combustion engine globally in the next 15 years.
Regarding e-bikes, he says they can cover greater distances in less time, “which enables the active mobility of a broader population such as the elderly”.
