More electric vehicle chargers coming
Natural Resources Canada and the Yukon government have teamed up to support the installation of up to 200 Level-2 electric vehicle chargers across the territory.
Natural Resources Canada and the Yukon government have teamed up to support the installation of up to 200 Level-2 electric vehicle chargers across the territory.
The $2.15-million project was announced this morning in Whitehorse.
It will encourage the expansion of Level-2 electric vehicle chargers in public places, on streets, at multi-unit residential buildings and at workplaces throughout the territory.
The two governments are investing a combined $1.8 million in funding, with Ottawa covering $1 million of that.
The remaining project value will be funded by the rebate participants, who pay a portion of the costs for installing the chargers.
Under the Good Energy rebate for electric vehicle chargers, the Yukon government is now reimbursing First Nations governments and municipalities 90 per cent of costs for qualifying Level-2 electric vehicle chargers.
Businesses are being reimbursed by 75 per cent.
Electrifying the Yukon’s roadways to support low-carbon transportation, such as electric vehicles, is a territorial government commitment under Our Clean Future: A Yukon strategy for climate change, energy and a green economy.
“We’re making electric vehicles more affordable and charging more accessible for Canadians from coast to coast,” Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in a statement.
“Investing in more charging stations, like the ones announced today in the Yukon, will put more Canadians in the driver’s seat on the road to a net-zero future and help achieve our climate goals.”
Yukon Energy, Mines and Resources Minister John Streicker said his government is excited to support the shift to electric vehicles.
“By increasing the availability of Level-2 electric vehicle chargers in our communities, we are incentivizing and making it easier for them to travel in our territory in a greener, more sustainable way.”
The goal is to have 200 Level-2 chargers installed throughout the Yukon by March 2023.
“Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the Yukon,” added Environment Minister Nils Clarke.
“Encouraging the installation of electric vehicle chargers in the territory supports our broader transition to battery electric vehicles, which will reduce our collective greenhouse gas emissions, improve our air quality and help protect our environment for future generations.”
The Yukon government has installed five electric vehicle fast chargers and four Level-2 chargers that are publicly available for use.
The installation of an additional seven fast chargers is underway and is expected to be complete by March 2022.
Types of chargers include:
• Level-1 is a common household outlet (120 volts) and charges a vehicle overnight;
• Level-2 is similar to a household outlet for ranges or clothes dryers (240 volts) and charges a vehicle in a few hours; and
• Level-3 (fast chargers) charges a vehicle in about 30 minutes (480 volts).
Comments (37)
Up 2 Down 0
Jake on Feb 4, 2022 at 5:38 pm
@ Charlies Aunt
Well, at least you're right about the hydro-electric.
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Charlie's Aunt on Feb 4, 2022 at 2:15 pm
Good one Jim. @ Jake & Groucho, maybe read https://thenarwhal.ca/nuclear-waste-ignace-bruce/ and see where Ontario is considering for burial of their nuclear waste, around Ignace and South Bruce. Even has pictures of present storage containers. Doesn't matter how you cut it, it still means burying junk. I'm sure the military thought it was a great idea to chuck used fuel barrels in Kluane Lake during highway construction, but now we know differently. All of this could be solved with more hydro dams if various nimby crowds quit complaining. With amount of snow in past two winters we could probably power another planet.
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Jim on Feb 4, 2022 at 9:49 am
@Charlie’s Aunt, maybe they can bury the nuclear waste at the same site they dispose of the EV batteries.
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Jake on Feb 3, 2022 at 3:06 pm
@ Charlies Aunt
At the Geo-Science Forum a couple years back the University of Sweden (correct me if I'm wrong there) made an excellent presentation on the two models in production and in use already. The unit is sold as a whole with a twenty year life, at that point they take the whole unit back to Europe for a rebuild and replace it with a new unit. (It is about the size of a Sea-Container). Disposal has been arranged and already approved.
You are right that Uranium and it's radioactive isotopes have a very long half-life (that sounds more impressive than it is...it just means it lasts many years) but it can be managed. Those who keep raising that point do it because it meets their narrative and avoid all the other facts.
Up 12 Down 1
Groucho d'North on Feb 3, 2022 at 2:35 pm
@ Charlie's Aunt
You're thinnking of old end of the world mellow-dramas. Science has marched on. Read what the current info really is. Pick whatever you want: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=modern+nuclear+power&atb=v1-1&ia=web
Up 3 Down 11
Charlie's Aunt on Feb 3, 2022 at 11:19 am
@Pick one; Have you been following how Ontario has a problem in deciding where to locate their nuclear waste from power plants? They are negotiating over 2 sites for burying it, but this stuff stays active for generations. Where are you proposing YT could bury theirs after nuclear rods expend their life span?
Up 25 Down 2
Moose101 on Feb 3, 2022 at 5:37 am
I would presume that you have to pay to use charging station. It usually costs around 15 to 20 dollars to fully charge a EV if they don’t I want a rebate to that equivalent on my fuel bill.
Up 41 Down 4
Buzzsaw Jimmy on Feb 2, 2022 at 8:18 am
The liberal/NDP seem to be a huge fan of the "Field of Dreams" movie staring Kevin Costner." If we build it, they will come." That seems to have worked out well for the safe injection site. Sadly, more deaths over the week-end
Up 46 Down 7
North_of_60 on Feb 1, 2022 at 3:48 pm
This is just another example of how the LIBgov spends our CarbonTax "refund" on frivolous greenwashed virtue-signaling that only benefits the rich elite who can afford subsidized battery powered toys. Why isn't this CarbonTax refund spent instead on infrastructure maintenance and upgrades that will benefit all of us who are forced to pay this fuel tax?
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Charlie's Aunt on Feb 1, 2022 at 2:32 pm
This is so ridiculous it's not even funny. What happens when someone stops at a charge point on highway, especially in winter, and finds a blackout so they can't charge? So the worry is about accommodating tourists. Doubt there will be many electric powered motor-homes in near future but even cars/trucks having to keep stopping for a 30 min fast charge on Alaska Highway is enough to deter many.
Good news is it may mean those old highway lodges that closed when people could go further on a tank of gas & didn't need to stop, can now re-open. If they only install a 120 v charge station they can be good for overnight stays and sell breakfast! What on earth is wrong with hybrid vehicles being promoted? At least they charge their own batteries and don't rely on an already overtaxed grid. I think we need another state of emergency declared, this time for loss of brains.
Up 52 Down 3
Pick one already on Feb 1, 2022 at 1:50 pm
Micro nuclear. If not, wake up and scale back our expectations. Too many living in a fool's paradise up here.
Up 32 Down 6
martin on Feb 1, 2022 at 1:42 pm
@bonanzajoe: I also will run a reliable engine for our climate. I like diesels. Plus, I let it idle when it is -30 or below; I figure if the power-at-be can waste taxpayers money............ you know the rest.
Up 38 Down 7
martin on Feb 1, 2022 at 1:36 pm
@David Patterson : I thought tourists are coming here for the wilderness; not the ultra-modern lifestyle. Most Tourists are flying in from Germany and renting Campers to into the woods. In case you don't know it, there is 500 km (+/-) from Fort Nelson to Watson Lake and no e-car could make it. I could go on.........
Up 33 Down 7
bonanzajoe on Feb 1, 2022 at 10:51 am
David Patterson says, 'Fast charging can be supported by large batteries that are slowly charged by solar and wind 24/7.' You're beginning to sound like a Lib. By the way, are you ready to wait in a line up of EVs waiting to get a charge that will take at least a half hour each?
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Groucho d'North on Feb 1, 2022 at 9:30 am
EV charging stations will be our modern 'bridge to nowhere'. Is there any reliable data on how many EV vehicles are operating in the territory today? What's the forecasted growth of these vehicles in the coming decade? I sure hope the planning for these stations factored in the real world consumers adopting the EV option over a period of time. And yes- where is the juice going to be generated and how?
I want to believe these projects are funded by the vast Carbon taxes gathered over the past few years...but I am still suspicious as Trudeau would be bleating carbon tax dollar amounts invested everytime a microphone is in his face, or is he putting more debt on the generations to follow?
Up 38 Down 6
Josey Wales on Feb 1, 2022 at 8:41 am
Charging stations eh?
Reads more like really really expensive extension cords, run from a collection of fossil fuel units no?
Well since it is more about virtue this political distraction from the real world, please indulge me...
Being February it is black history month, many many great folks throughout our history have achieved heaps despite many challenges thrown in their way.
Stolen culture should be a serious situation these days, enough to cancel many...but not all?
That bloviating done...Canada has a sitting self professed black PM ruining, I meant running our country?
Given the costs to taxpayers to espouse PM BF’s ideological fantasies?
That should be attached to every feel good release the media is paid to regurgitate!!
On the topic of amperage and volts, there is a tremendous amount of Canadian energy being produced as we read.
And just like these politicly virtuous charging stations, it TOO is being created with diesel fuel and non redcoats.
Seems meandering off topic, I of course claim every character relevant to the context of my point.
Credit earned is acknowledged, frauds are not and too much amperage can kill when no respect is paid to the “potential”.
The same ideological idiots that bring these virtue stations here, support our Blackface PM...and all its “correct” opinions and values.
Please remember this, whilst we are all being engineered...by ideological idiots!
Up 39 Down 5
Vern Schlimbesser on Feb 1, 2022 at 5:23 am
This brings to mind the "safe supply" argument for drugs for addicted people, (Bear with me a second).
Because Ottawa is paying we should rush ahead and do this even though in the long run it may cause a bigger issue? Does that reasoning not have the scent of mental illness about it?
It is the same reasoning used by the City for yet even more grand infrastructure, and it is the backbone of YTG reasoning.
Lets be the first to call a stop to this, change the Financial Administration Act to to allow more logical use of public resources, and learn to live with what we can afford?
Up 43 Down 5
Jake on Feb 1, 2022 at 5:15 am
@ Buzzsaw...
Because I wondered about actual successes here, I asked a relative who is a professional in Alberta what his experience was with these projects, these are is his words;
According to the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) website, on
December 31, 2021 the province's 13 grid-connected solar facilities
were rated at 736 megawatts of capacity but were contributing only 58
megawatts to the grid. Their 26 wind farms, with a combined rated
capacity of 2,269 megawatts, were contributing only 18 megawatts.
So, on a day that averaged somewhere around -30C across the province
(not exactly a rare event), at noon the total contribution of ALL
solar and wind capacity was only 76 megawatts, or 2.5% of the rated
solar/wind capacity. That means that someone (taxpayers?) paid for
97.5% of capacity that was totally absent at that particularly point
in time.
At that same time, the total load was 11,232 megawatts. So solar and
the wind was providing only 0.7% of the total electric energy that was
demanded of the grid.
What would have happened that day if all of the existing coal and
natural gas-fired plants had been mothballed - as some "experts" are
calling for in the near future? How many people would have frozen to
death? How many electric cars would not have started? If, on the
coldest day of the year, we can only count on 2.5% of the rated
capacity of solar and wind power, what's really going to happen? Will
we be subjected to rolling blackouts and brownouts? Will the
fundamental requirements of our modern society be available to us? Or
will we be jerked back to medieval times burning wood in our homes and
pulling our wagons with horses?
Somehow this is not a surprise.
Up 35 Down 10
Wilf Carter on Feb 1, 2022 at 1:14 am
How far will electric cars go in winter in Yukon, 80 klms? What is the cost to charge these electric cars compared to fossil fuels? Will fossil fuels like diesel be used to charge these cars?
Up 49 Down 8
Max Mack on Jan 31, 2022 at 11:20 pm
More free stuff for people who live relatively luxurious lives and love to show off their virtuous superiority.
Meanwhile, the rest of us pay for their extravagance through both increased electrical rates and increased taxes on fossil fuels.
Up 8 Down 55
David Patterson on Jan 31, 2022 at 8:34 pm
If you want tourists to come to the Yukon, you need facilities and the future is EV transportation. Fast charging can be supported by large batteries that are slowly charged by solar and wind 24/7.
Up 20 Down 4
iBrian on Jan 31, 2022 at 7:23 pm
Time to turn those street lights off at night. Everyone has a headlamp and all vehicles have these things in the front that light up like a Nova Scotia light house and shine beams down the road. Imagine, the headlamps actually working and not so many doh heads driving around with high beams on in the city or their Light bars on 2 mile Hill. Nice!
Up 40 Down 4
Naturelover on Jan 31, 2022 at 6:15 pm
The transition from efficient fossil solar powered vehicles to electric battery vehicles will overload the capacity of the world’s electric generation grid.
Ownership of private vehicles will become an unaffordable luxury for most families.
Be prepared.
Up 40 Down 6
Juniper Jackson on Jan 31, 2022 at 6:12 pm
Picture this.. a bitter Yukon winter, snow, ice, wind, fog. The power goes down. it's down for 7 hours. There are 200 cars on Moutainview, How many on Hamilton?
These dudes and dudettes are lucky it's the Yukon, where someone is going to stop their old gas and oil 6 seater and give you a ride home.
Up 39 Down 8
bonanzajoe on Jan 31, 2022 at 4:16 pm
Buzzsaw Jimmy. Certainly makes sense to me. By the way, on a level one charging station - that is a simple 120 volt plug in at home - takes about 24 hours to charge a normal electric vehicle. I just have one question, is the common lib politician dumb before he/she goes into politics or becomes that way after election?
Up 30 Down 10
bonanzajoe on Jan 31, 2022 at 4:08 pm
And since when does electricity come in "green". I thought it was colourless. So, is this a racial thing?
Up 47 Down 7
Salt on Jan 31, 2022 at 4:07 pm
We have allowed our culture to be taken over by a cult and we will live to regret it.
Up 43 Down 6
bonanzajoe on Jan 31, 2022 at 4:07 pm
"the Yukon government is now reimbursing First Nations governments and municipalities 90 per cent" Get ready to see your electricity rates at least double folks.
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Trudeau must go! on Jan 31, 2022 at 4:05 pm
Dear Buzzsaw Jimmy - Don’t forget all them tourists in their big fancy motor homes and boats.. There will be miles and miles of charging stations to accommodate the Northern tourist industry… And then, there will be all that mining equipment that will have to be charged everyday - FFS! Think of the miners!!!
Trudeau plans on harnessing the raw power of lightning storms and storing the energy for another day with large cancer causing, embryo damaging, tumour causing battery banks… Rare earth, rare earth… Dig it!!??
I think they were planning on putting in multiple charging stations throughout the southern lakes chains so you can still fish, without an extension cord.
Up 46 Down 5
bonanzajoe on Jan 31, 2022 at 4:03 pm
• Level-3 (fast chargers) charges a vehicle in about 30 minutes (480 volts).
Wouldn't want to be in that lineup. The level two takes several hours to complete a full charge. I will stick to my gas engine for as long as I can. And if I have any say in the matter, that will be many years down the road.
Up 48 Down 2
Oya on Jan 31, 2022 at 3:26 pm
@ Matthew - Don't forget the gen sets in Faro.... supposedly out of sight, out of mind. For some maybe, but not for me. I think there's at least as many in Faro as here in Whitehorse.
Does Atco pay the carbon tax on all that diesel? Is that why my electric bill is so fricken high? And no, I don't have electric heat.
So, what exactly is the plan? Will Atco just keep purchasing or renting more and more diesel generators to meet the demand or is there actually a plan in place to DO SOMETHING to get the supply closer to the demand?
Will we EVER see a reduction in our energy costs? Seems to me that economies of scale should kick in sooner or later to bring down the costs for all Yukoners. Am I just dreaming in technicolor or could that be a thing?
How will Atco be able to accommodate these new charging stations when they can barely accommodate the current needs? Can we please hear from the President of Atco as to what the plan is for the foreseeable future?
Up 39 Down 6
Pierre on Jan 31, 2022 at 3:25 pm
All federal dollars unaccounted for…our kids will pay dearly.
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Buzzsaw Jimmy on Jan 31, 2022 at 3:04 pm
I'm having a really hard time wrapping my head around this one. I visit a friend quite regularly in the Army Beach subdivision where a charging station was installed a few years ago. I haven't been by for a few weeks but never have I seen a footstep in the snow around this many thousand dollar piece of infrastructure, this year or last. As a matter of fact the thing isn't even shovelled out. During the last territorial election the liberal candidate in my riding was boasting about installing charging stations all the way up the Dempster Highway so that we were good from coast to coast to coast. When I mentioned that we have no grid up the Dempster and suggested we would be charging these stations with diesel generators, I was corrected and told they would be using solar panels and windmills. That makes sense, solar panels above the arctic circle where the sun doesn't shine for a large portion of the year. Somehow I was very skeptical that windmills wouldn't frost up and become useless as well. I'm sure a station would be installed at Eagle Plains which would definitely be powered with Stan's diesel generators. Well, let's move on from the Dempster and talk about Whitehorse and how beneficial Electric vehicles would be in our world. Anyone who drives down South Access on a cold clear winter day can't help noticing the LNG plant and numerous diesel generators humming away keeping the Whistlebend electrically heated homes warm, as well as all the new condos in downtown Whitehorse warm with their electric heat. The word from Atco Electric is that we broke all records this year for energy consumption, pushing us to almost critical levels, and barely able to keep up. Imagine the problems when we also have to charge 30,000 vehicles once Trudeau eliminates the internal combustion engine. Where is the power going to come from?, oh I know, out of that pluggy thing in the wall. Obviously the only way to charge all these electric vehicles would be to rent dozens and dozens more diesel generators to charge all these cars. In many of our larger cities like Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal many people park on the street. Imagine all those extension cords crossing the sidewalks charging these vehicles at night. Lawyers will be delighted, now not only can they make a fortune from slips, trips and falls from homeowners who don't remove snow, they can now make a fortune from slips, trips and falls from people tripping over extension cords. GOOD IDEA!
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Al on Jan 31, 2022 at 2:46 pm
“We’re making electric vehicles more affordable and charging more accessible for Canadians from coast to coast,”. Notice anything missing? Shouldn't the statement read "coast to coast to coast"?
Notwithstanding this oversight it is more money being thrown about like confetti. The worst of all this - they actually believe this bull-crap. I am still waiting for the highway backups that last hours and these doe-does run out of power. Gas guys either carry a jerrycan of fuel or they can get fuel a helluva lot faster than having to be 'towed' to an ev charging site. You little Twinkies - you just go ahead with your ev's. At the same time remember the huge environmental costs that goes into making these throw away batteries and components. Figured out the disposal costs yet? Thought not...
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Olav on Jan 31, 2022 at 2:40 pm
Does the end user pay to charge their vehicle at the level 2 and 3 sites?
What is the plan to support this electrification?
It is my understanding that our electrical grid is already operating at its peak capacity.
I had a big rider, to support the diesel generators, on my last bill.
This looks like smoke and mirrors to me.
Up 119 Down 8
Matthew on Jan 31, 2022 at 1:39 pm
Quick question, how will these "electric" cars be charged? Oh, right, I almost forgot about the 10 massive diesel generators running 24/7 by Schwatka.. surely it's not just me who finds this ironic..
Up 113 Down 8
yukong on Jan 31, 2022 at 1:32 pm
Oh wonderful, do they come with rented diesel generators?