By Adam Donnelly

Charged up: Kamloops councillor takes to social media to get action on TCC EV charger

Jan 16, 2017 | 5:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — While electric cars still have a long way to go before surpassing combustion cars as the primary mode of personal transportation in the city, more and more of the battery powered vehicles are appearing on city streets. What do you do if you’re driving an EV, and running low on battery power? While there are some charging stations throughout Kamloops, the quick charge kiosk at the Tournament Capital Centre has been out of commission for several months, prompting one city councillor to ask why it took so long to get fixed.

It was almost three years ago the city unveiled its new quick charging station for electric cars at the tournament capital centre; recently, the charger hasn’t been working, and while the problem didn’t affect the vast majority of the city’s population, it did come to the attention of city councillor Arjun Singh, who drives an electric car.

“[The charging station] is a good back-up,” said Singh, who drives a Nissan Leaf EV. “When you’re travelling from place to place, intercity, they’re basically critical, so to have the EV charger down for this long has been a problem.”

Singh brought up the charger on social media on Friday, which obviously caught the attention of BC Hydro, the agency tasked with maintaining the network of public chargers across BC.

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“There’s actually a Memo of Understanding between the city, the province, and BC Hydro,” Sustainability Services manager for the City of Kamloops, Glen Cheetham told CFJC Today, adding “…the unit is owned by BC Hydro.”

In a statement issued this afternoon by the crown corporation, a BC Hydro spokesperson said they’ve been aware of the issues, and have been working with the manufacturer to repair it.

“The charging infrastructure at the Tournament Capital Centre was one of the first charging stations installed as part of a pilot project to install 30 DC fast charging stations throughout the province. We’ve had some issues with that particular station and have been working with the manufacturer to repair it.

In December, we replaced the DC fast charging station with a unit from Nanaimo. The City of Kamloops verified the charging station was working; however, it wasn’t charging the vehicles as quickly as it should have. We had electricians onsite today. The station is currently charging the City of Kamloops’ Nissan Leaf.” – Kevin Aquino, BC Hydro Spokesperson

While councillor Singh didn’t stick around to see the charger back in action, he did say elected officials have a duty to the population to ensure the best possible practices are being followed, while working with their constituents to make any changes easier.

According to Singh, “There’s two things I know: one is that climate change is happening, and we have to address greenhouse gas emissions. Number two is that cultural change is difficult, and I know that lots of people out there are kind of wondering how they’re going to be able to embrace that. I think that’s the job of us, in representative roles, is try and help folks how they can make those changes.”