Three fast-charging stations for electric vehicles will be coming to Whitehorse and Carcross this summer.

They’ll be paired with a study of how such cars operate in colder climates, thanks to more than $360,000 coming from the federal and Yukon governments.

The announcement was made last Friday by a number of officials.

Set at Level 3, the stations will be at the Visitor Information Centre and the NorthLight Innovation building in the city, as well as the Carcross-Tagish First Nation (CTFN) Learning Centre in Carcross.

There are already Level 2 conventional chargers for such cars at the Yukon Transportation Museum, Mount Lorne waste management site and the Yukon Government Main Administration Building.

The different levels translate into different charging times:

• level 1 is a common household outlet at 120 volts and can charge a car overnight;

• level 2 is similar to a household outlet for clothes dryers at 240 volts and takes a few hours to charge a car; and

• level 3 is set at 480 volts and can charge a car in 30 minutes.

Yukon MP Larry Bagnell pointed out the transportation sector tends to make up 25 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions.

Most of that includes cars, trucks and heavy duty vehicles, he added.

“The fast ones are much more modern and faster – maybe 20 minutes as opposed to a good portion of the day,” Bagnell said. The goal is to encourage electric cars as an attractive option for Yukoners, even in colder temperatures, he added.

The federal government will be pitching in $212,000 for the cost of the charging stations. YG will add $156,250 in funding, for a total of $368,250.

The project will see data collected to look at how travel range and efficiencies of electric cars change throughout the year for a three-year study.

Partners include the CTFN, Northern Vision Development (NVD), Yukon College’s Cold Climate Innovation, ATCO Electric Yukon and Yukonstruct.

Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Ranj Pillai was joined by Highways and Public Works Minister Richard Mostyn for last Friday’s event, along with officials from the CTFN, the college and NVD.

The partnership to study the impacts and changes around the usage were perhaps the most worth noting, Bagnell said.

“The second part to me is the genius part of this program, because you could just prima facie decide, ‘we’ll just give out money everywhere for charging stations,’” he said.

“But people don’t realize that in the parts of the country ... in rural areas where it’s 40 below, they’re not just going to jump out and do that because they won’t know if it will work.”

Noting that the ideal distance between such chargers is more than 60 kilometres, Pillai added there are 12 electric vehicles registered in the Yukon – including the government’s lone Chevrolet car, Sparky.

“When people look into buying an electric car, they are often concerned with its range of travel and its performance in cold weather,” Pillai said.

“We hope this is a starting point for developing a territory-wide electrified transportation network that makes use of electric vehicles.”

Mostyn echoed this, adding the average Yukoner tends to commute about 13 kilometres to and from work each day.

He added his department will be working to have such infrastructure in place that can support charging stations from the get-go.

“That is, we are now looking at all the new buildings we’re building and instead of having to retrofit those buildings five or six years down the road, we’re trying to do it proactively – putting those charging stations in place now so that we are saving money and being efficient,” Mostyn said.

The government acknowledged there can be difficulties around getting Yukoners on board with electric cars: access to clean electricity, colder temperatures, remote communities and limited dealership options can be challenges.

“I don’t think it’s going to be very long before all car companies are onside,” Bagnell said.

“They’ve seen the writing on the wall; Volvo isn’t going to produce a single car anymore that burns fossil fuel.”

The manufacturing giant confirmed two years ago that from 2019 onward, all new cars would be partially or completely battery-operated – in an effort to end vehicles that only have an internal combustion engine.

Mostyn suspects that with incentives and support from governments, “we’re going to see an awful lot more buy-in from the part of the public and also dealerships, and I have no doubt that they will start to innovate.”

The three charging stations can be used free of charge to the public.

As of Tuesday, a tender to supply, install and provide other management services went out for three fast chargers in the territory. With that tender set to close June 6, documents show, work is to begin July 1 and wrap up by September’s end.

Meanwhile, last week’s event comes sooner than two months after the feds unveiled their March budget and fewer than six months away from October’s federal election.

In the Yukon, it will see the Liberal Bagnell challenged for his seat by Conservative Jonas Smith and New Democrat Justin Lemphers.

No one has announced for the Green Party.