Book a room, charge your car

Quebec’s first electric-vehicle-charging stations – to be unveiled Tuesday – will be in a downtown Montreal hotel.

And the Centre Sheraton Montreal will initially offer two EV charging stations free of charge in the VIP parking area, hotel manager Didier Luneau said Thursday.

“We will offer them free (of charge) to any Montreal citizen with an electric vehicle … until June or until the demand is too high,” Luneau said in a telephone interview.

The Coulomb Technologies stations are equipped with a universal plug-in that can be used for all types of electric vehicles, including buses, Segway scooters and bikes.

On Tuesday, Centre Sheraton and Hydro-Québec will formally unveil the stations and provide a demonstration with a hybrid electric vehicle.

They will be the first EV charging stations in Quebec, Luneau said.

Also on Tuesday, Toronto’s Sheraton Centre will unveil its two EV charging stations.

Although Hydro-Québec figures that about 80 per cent of the recharging of electric vehicles will occur at the workplace or at home, public recharging stations will be needed.

In the U.S., Coulomb Technologies is involved in a nationwide program that aims to provide 4,600 charging stations in various regions.

That program is supported in part with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy.

In Canada, British Columbia and Quebec are seen as leading jurisdictions in preparing for widespread use of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Hydro-Québec has partnered with Mitsubishi, maker of the all-electric i-MiEV in a three-year, $4.5-million project involving 50 vehicles.

It is also involved with Ford Motor Co. in a demonstration and research program of Ford’s plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

Most recently, Hydro-Québec has said it will add 20 Chevrolet Volts to its fleet next year in a partnership with Chevrolet Canada.

Communauto, the car-sharing service, has announced that it will offer Quebec clients all-electric vehicles next year.

Fifty Nissan Leaf cars are to join Communauto’s Quebec fleet in a venture that involves Nissan Canada Hydro-Québec, the cities of Montreal and Quebec, along with the Agence de l’efficacite energetique du Quebec.