PelhamToday received the following letter to the editor regarding another letter to the editor about EV charging spaces:
2023 was a banner year for electric vehicles in Pelham. The year prior there were no publicly available charging locations in the municipality and now thanks to proud community partners including Aviva Canada, Earth Day Canada, Pollution Probe and the Town itself, there are eight charging stalls between Town Hall and the MCC.
The Town now has two electric vehicles, with plans to evolve the balance of the municipal fleet (less some necessary diesel engines in Public Works) in the coming years. We hope this represents an important, concrete example of our collective commitment to a greener community which in no way constitutes a ‘raised middle finger’ to EV drivers or the community-at-large.
"We hope this represents an important, concrete example of our collective commitment to a greener community"
As a technical exercise, until the Town receives and installs EV designated signage it is unable to lay charges for parking at a charging station, which is therefore not presently an offence – although it will be, likely by week’s end, when the signage is expected to be installed. With any new technology that is introduced, a learning curve is to be expected. The Town is not immune to challenges posed by learning curves, and installing new EV chargers has created a need to change parking habits, including by Town staff, so as to ensure that EV spaces are utilized exclusively by vehicles that need EV chargers.
All eight of Pelham’s chargers are now publicly available within the FLO Network and can be found online by drivers-in-need. Presumably, we can all celebrate the existence of the chargers and hopefully they will be heavily used in the months and years to come.
David Cribbs
CAO Town of Pelham
