Nova Scotia to see 250 AC chargers installed by 2023

Nova Scotia will receive $1.2 million in funding to install up to 250 electric vehicle chargers throughout the province. The money will be made available through Natural Resources Canada and go to the Clean Foundation that will select locations as per demand.

The funding is part of Canada’s Zero-Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program (ZEVIP), a $280 million program ending in 2024. The country has set a mandatory target for all new light-duty cars and passenger trucks to be zero-emission by 2035.

For the charging network at hand in Nova Scotia, Canada’s second-smallest province, EV chargers will be installed in public places, multi-unit residential buildings, on streets, at workplaces or service facilities by spring 2023.

“Building Nova Scotia’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure will help address one of the key barriers to zero-emission vehicle adoption,” said Erin Burbidge, Director, Policy and Programs, Clean Foundation. “It will also support the province’s climate goal of having electric vehicles account for 30 per cent of vehicles sales by 2030.”

The announcement also follows earlier news that Nova Scotia was the fourth Canadian province to adopt an EV rebate program.

This had prompted Enel X to increase its presence in Canada and to install 438 smart EV charging stations across Killam properties in the province as reported. Natural Resources Canada’s ZEVIP provided $730,000 in funding to help establish the chargers across 50 Killam properties.

The Enel X initiative appears unconnected to the programme announced today, however. The information available so far for the planned 250 charging stations is that these will be Level 2 AC chargers and installed at locations according to demand. The overseeing Clean Foundation is a Nova Scotia-based independent, non-governmental environmental charity founded in 1988. Their mission statement is to provide “the knowledge, tools and inspiration needed to encourage the actions that lead to positive environmental change.”

In general, funding through NRC’s infrastructure programme ZEVIP can cover up to 50% of total project costs, to a maximum of $5,000 per connector in the case of Level 2 charging stations.

newswire.ca (Nova Scotia), nrcan.gc.ca (ZEVIP)