The town of Osoyoos is rolling into the future as council has approved 12 new spots to charge electric vehicles.
In a report to town council, senior planner Don McArthur said Osoyoos was identified as a key link in the chain of electric vehicle charging stations in the province.
American automotive and energy company Tesla approached the town to identify a location within the community to install eight of their new supercharger stations.
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The municipal parking lot at 74th Avenue and 87th Street was identified as an ideal location as it is under-utilized, large enough to accommodate the charging stations and within walking distance of Main Street.
In addition to the eight Tesla supercharger stations, the company said it would install four universal chargers at the site and an additional four at another location to enable owners of other types of electric vehicles to use the charging stations.
Town council heard charge time at the universal stations is two to six hours, while the supercharger stations take just 30 minutes.
All construction and maintenance costs associated with the project will be paid by Tesla.
Mayor Sue McKortoff said she sits on the Highway 3 coalition, made up of politicians along the highway corridor from Hope to the Canada-U.S. border.
“In order to try and increase tourist use along Highway 3, rather than having everybody speed up Highway 1, one of the things that’s been a big push from our group is to have electric vehicle stations so that people can meander through and know that they can charge their car as they go,” she said.
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“I am definitely in favour of increasing usage,” she said.
The stations are expected to be installed this summer.
Council also heard that FortisBC has designated Osoyoos as one of 12 locations in its electric vehicle charging network receiving a new fast-charge station.
It will be installed at the Nk’Mip Petro Canada gas station on the Osoyoos Indian Band reserve on Highway 3.