The Municipality of Meaford is moving closer to establishing charging stations for electric vehicles.
Council received an update on the initiative from staff during their May 13 council meeting. Council was advised that the municipality has been successful in receiving one grant of $99,000 for the $354,225 project, and staff are optimistic that the municipality will receive a second grant that would bring the grant funding to 90 percent of the total project cost.
“We have two grant applications in at the minute,” Interim CAO Matt Smith told council. “We have received for sure one for $99,000, and we are very hopeful of a second (grant), we’ve had some suggestions that we are in good position for it, and if we were to get both (grants), that would take us up to 90 percent funding.”
Council has identified electric vehicle charging stations as a council priority for the 2023 – 2026 term of council.
Calls for public charging stations in the municipality and throughout the county have increased in recent years as electric vehicles have become a larger portion of the new vehicle market. A report to council in January of this year noted that Grey County is also applying to the EV ChargeON program with plans to install charging stations throughout the county, including two Level 2 chargers in Meaford.
“The Municipality has applied for two grant funding opportunities to help fund the installation of two Level 3 100kW electric vehicle chargers at the proposed 28 Nelson Street West parking lot. The EV ChargeON Program 2023-24 application is still under review by the province and the Municipality has been successful in receiving $99,999 from the Pollution Probe Community Charging Program. The total project costs are estimated at $354,225 of which 90% could be funded through grant funding if successful with both grant applications,” staff advised in their May 13 report to council. “To ensure success of the project the Municipality is proceeding with the engineering design of the EV charging infrastructure on site. Tatham Engineering Limited will be completing the work through the engineering roster for an upset cost of $24,612 including the Municipality’s non-refundable allocation of H.S.T and contingency.”
Should the municipality succeed in securing the second grant, just 10 percent of the cost of the project will be funded by municipal tax dollars.
“If the Municipality is successful in receiving both grant funds, 10% of the total project costs, currently estimated at $35,423, will be funded by the Municipality,” staff advised council.
Though they are still awaiting confirmation of grant funding, the municipality is preparing for the installation of electric vehicle charging stations, which will include engineering of the infrastructure for the charging stations.
“To allow for the EV charger installation to proceed in 2024, as part of the 28 Nelson Street parking lot construction project, the engineering of EV charger infrastructure must be completed. This work will include engineering of all onsite electrical infrastructure, determination of Hydro One infrastructure upgrades, and structural infrastructure to support the installation of the EV chargers,” staff advised council in their report. “The engineering roster has been utilized to obtain proposals for this work. The work will be awarded to Tatham Engineering Limited for the design, tendering support, and construction oversight for the project. Their proposal met all requirements of the terms of reference and staff are satisfied that they will be able to complete the project based on their past experience with EV charger infrastructure design. It is recommended that the engineering design proceed prior to finding out the results of the EV ChargeON Program 2023-24 funding application as the work is time sensitive. If the grant funding is not received the Municipality will continue to investigate other funding opportunities before proceeding past the design phase of the project. Having the design complete will provide benefit to future grant applications as it will allow for short grant timelines to be met and show readiness of the project.”
