Sask. Polytech installs EV charging stations for employees

A partnership between Red River College Polytechnic, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), and Sask. Polytech has lead to EV charging stations being placed on the Saskatoon campus.

The $225,000 project, funded by Natural Resources Canada’s Zero Emission Vehicle Awareness Initiative, is to encourage employees at the college to invest in electric vehicles.

“We want to start a conversation about EV charging infrastructure, looking at what our workplaces and communities currently have and will need in the future,” Robin Smith, academic chair of Applied Research Operations at Sask Polytech’s Sustainability-Led Integrated Centres of Excellence (SLICE) said in a news release.

“One way to start this conversation is to install EV charging stations on our own campus for employee use.”

Manager of the Centre for Grid Innovation at NAIT said the public needed to move away from an ‘at the pump’ mentality.

“Unlike gas vehicles that drive for extended periods on a tank of fuel, and re-fill rapidly when empty, vehicle charging should be compared more with how we keep our cell phones powered each day,” Daniel Ricardo said. “On heavy use days, we identify locations where we can plug in for long periods of time. This mindset lends perfectly to the Level 1 workplace charging opportunity that we’re excited about exploring further.”

The project will also bring researchers from each school together to promote the adoption of EVs through research and the distributing of informational material to build awareness, the news release said.