Dear Editor,
My family and I purchased an electric vehicle (EV) last year. It has been the best vehicle decision we’ve ever made. We have a quiet car that doesn’t pollute and we’ve saved thousands of dollars on fuel and maintenance. It has also been great using it to travel around on vacation.
Most EV owners will tell you the majority of charging they do is at home — it’s convenient and inexpensive, since most of the daily driving we do is within the city.
When we make longer trips, we look up charging stations in those cities or along the route.
First, we look for free charging, and next we look for convenient charging stations — ones that are fast charging, and are located in a plaza, near a restaurant, or tourist attraction, so we can leave our car to charge while we shop, eat, or sightsee.
Hotels or AirB&B’s that have electric charging are another attraction and we’re more likely to stay at those than others, because it’s so convenient to let our car charge while it is parked and we’re sleeping.
Sarnia-Lambton needs more electric car chargers.
First, more people are buying EV’s and will visit businesses with chargers.
Second, tourists like to visit attractions and if they can charge their car quickly and cheaply, they will choose those locations over others.
Third, local EV owners are more likely to charge in convenient locations where there’s shopping, food or attractions.
Sarnia locations that should have charging stations include: Lambton Mall, Wal-Mart plaza, Northgate plaza, downtown, Mitton village, Canatara and Centennial Parks.
Point Edward should have chargers under the Blue Water Bridge, at the casino, the hotels, motels and Air B&B’s.
This is the way of the future as more and more people buy EV’s.
In order to promote tourism in our area, and for attracting visitors and their dollars, EV charging needs to be part of the equation.
Esther Tolooei
Sarnia