TERRACE BAY — Council has approved an amendment to their by-law lease agreement with Tesla that remove all language indicating that all Tesla vehicles can only charge at Tesla station.
According to the bylaw amendment all “electric vehicles” will be able to charge at the Tesla supercharging stations located at the end of Simcoe Plaza.
Although Tesla has committed to opening their charging network to all-electric vehicles across Canada, only Tesla vehicles can charge at the station for the time being, according to Mayor Paul Malashewski.
“We just had to change the wording in our agreement to any vehicle will be able to charge at the Tesla station,” Malashewski said.
The bylaw amendment was done primitively to prepare for the change.
“I've seen a lot of Tesla vehicles charged there over the time that charging station has been there and I expect to see a lot more vehicles there once they do the switch over,” Malashewski said.
Malashewski is hoping the switch will boost tourism in the area.
“You hook your vehicle up there and it's right downtown. We have a nice storefront area, lots of shops there. They can go browse around or go down to some of our restaurants and have a bite. It'll be good for the down downtown area,” Malashewski said.
As more people adopt electric vehicles, a serious concern across northern Ontario is the lack of charging stations along major highways.
"The governments are pushing these electric vehicles, but we need something other than charging stations every 60 miles because as in the winter around here, there's a lot of road closures,” he said.
He said both the province and federal governments should be actively investing in electric vehicles along the highway.