Rural communities want the benefits of EVs, so they're making their own charging networks

When people in B.C.'s Kootenay region saw electric vehicles and chargers multiplying in urban communities on the coast, they realized they were missing out on potential visitors and customers.

"We needed to build infrastructure to bring those people this way," recalled Danielle Weiss, director of transportation initiatives for the Community Energy Association, a B.C.-based group focused on local energy, decarbonization and climate adaptation.

So the group worked with local municipalities, as well as other levels of government and utilities, to create the Accelerate Kootenays charging network of dozens of EV chargers across 1,870 kilometres of rural southeastern B.C. in places like Revelstoke, Nelson, Cranbrook and Invermere.

They're among rural communities across the country that are finding ways to bring EV charging infrastructure to their regions so they don't get left behind in the EV transition, when private and public investment normally goes to dense urban centres. Some are already enjoying the opportunities and benefits, from attracting tourists to enabling EV adoption in their own communities.

By design, only 15 of the chargers in the Accelerate Kootenays network are Level 3 (fast) chargers that can charge an EV to nearly its full range in 30 minutes.

The vast majority — 40 — are Level 2, able to add up to 50 km range per hour of charging, requiring drivers to stay awhile for a bigger charge. They're purposely located off the highway, in communities themselves.

"And we find that to be the most exciting thing," Weiss said, "because people are discovering places they've never been before." She said some have even become repeat visitors.

Meanwhile, EV ownership in the Kootenays has been growing quickly, at a pace on par with B.C.'s Lower Mainland, she added: "The underlying opportunity is that everyone — not just those who live in urban centres — can adopt electric vehicles if they want to." 

The network was completed in 2019. And it prompted communities east and north of the Kootenays to wonder if they were missing out too. 

That led to the launch of the Peaks to Prairies EV charging network in southern Alberta and Charge North across 2,780 kilometres of northern B.C. 

Soon the Community Energy Association heard from communities in northern Alberta, central Vancouver Island and Southwestern Ontario who wanted their own networks too.

Adding even one EV charger can have a huge impact on a rural community — since in many, it's their first and only public charger.

Jessica Tait is the sustainable transportation manager at Indigenous Clean Energy, which runs Charge Up, a program to install EV charging infrastructure in Indigenous communities and businesses with government support. The majority are in rural areas.

She said 95 per cent of applicants to the program didn't have any access to a charger in their communities. But they see the potential benefits.