Summerside 25 Charlottetown 0 Western capital way out in front on electric charging stations

A report released this week from the Thinkers' Lodge in Pugwash, N.S. recommends municipalities be leaders on the implementation of electric vehicles, and Summerside's mayor says his city is way ahead of the curve.

The Centre for Local Prosperity hosted a meeting in Pugwash during the last weekend in September. One of its recommendations, from a report released Monday, is that municipalities become leaders in electric vehicles.

"Become early adopters of Electric Vehicle technologies, install free-access charging points at Municipal buildings, and convert at least one vehicle in their municipal fleet to an EV by 2020," read the report.

"We are so far ahead of this it's almost scary," Summerside Mayor Bill Martin told CBC News.

The city currently operates 25 charging stations, all available for free to the public. It also owns and operates three electric vehicles.

"Most of the hotels in the city also have a plug-in that's been supplied by the city. Holland College, down on their waterfront campus has two. So we're way ahead of the curve," said Martin.

Those chargers were installed by the city. The city also has a program where it will install chargers without cost for homes in new subdivisions.

No current plans in Charlottetown

The City of Charlottetown currently has no municipal charging stations or vehicles, and it has no plans for any.

Deputy mayor Mike Duffy told CBC News the city will hold public consultations on an energy plan for the city in January, and the energy strategy will proceed out of that.

"We, in Charlottetown, choose to go to the public and see what they want," said Duffy.

"The public consultation process will guide the committee."

Duffy said it is too early to say where the consultations will lead the city, but he did note that very few people in Charlottetown own an electric vehicle.

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