Revelstoke is on its way to a sustainable energy efficient future.

On Thursday, workers from Canyon Industrial Electrical Services started work on installing Revelstoke’s second public electric vehicle charging station in the city parking lot on 1st Street East between Orton and McArthur.

“We’ve been working on this for awhile, and we are very excited about it,” said Nicole Fricot, Revelstoke director of economic development. “I think that this is one of those projects where the immediate result may not be very clear, but it is really about the long term ability of the city to attract people and give them access to a electric vehicle charging station.”

The city says that construction will take about four working days.

A portion of the lot will be closed from Monday, April 9, to Thursday, April 12.

Council approved the location of the electric vehicle charging station last fall after hearing a presentation last May from Accelerate Kootenays, advocating for the project to help support their goal to develop a network of charging stations across the Kootenays.

Accelerate Kootenays has more than $1.5 million of funding and are supported by the Columbia Basin Trust, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the provincial government, FortisBC, BC Hydro and Powertech Labs.

City staff had reviewed a number of potential sites for the charging station including the community centre, but ultimately decided on the city lot.

The installation is expected to cost over $17,000, with Accelerate Kootenays contributing $7,000.

There is currently one other public and universal electric vehicle charging station located at the Revelstoke Visitor’s Centre and a number of Tesla specific charging stations located at the Best Western.

“This is about planning for the future of Revelstoke,” said Fricot.

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