Skip to content

Electric car owners recharge at Peavey Mart

Peavey Mart wants to charge you — without charging you.
A02-Peavey
Jason Auch removes the charging cord from his electric car at Peavey Mart on Friday. The Western Canadian retailer has installed electric car charging stations at four locations

Peavey Mart wants to charge you — without charging you.

The Red Deer-based retailer showed off its new electric car charging station at 2410 50th Ave. on Friday, one of four recently installed at its stores across Western Canada. MainStreet Hardware in Blackfalds, also owned by Peavey Industries Ltd., now boasts a charger too.

Now, electric car drivers can stop at the Red Deer or Blackfalds store and charge up their vehicles for free.

While in the month since installation there have only been about a half dozen charges at the Red Deer store, Peavey Industries Ltd. president Doug Anderson said the company has received thank you cards in the mail and lots of positive feedback. Right now, electric cars and the associated charging stations tend to primarily be in big cities, but he believes they can proliferate in more remote locations in the Prairies.

“Once there’s an infrastructure in place to really help some of those vehicle owners, I think you’re going to see it become commonplace in all regions, not just the big cities,” said Anderson.

The goal is to have charging stations installed at all Peavey Mart locations from Dawson Creek, B.C., to Swan River, Man. by the end of the year. While installation costs can run the company a few thousand dollars and the chargers a couple more, Anderson said there is no need to charge for the service.

“It’s not very expensive to charge a vehicle, and we have a captive customer. The hope is they’re going to come into the store, spend some time, and do some shopping. It is sustainable — absolutely,” he said.

It is a strategy that made a customer out of Jason Auch and Capri Rasmussen, a Calgary couple that stopped at the location a few weeks ago to top up their charge on the way to Edmonton, popping into the store for some purchases while they waiting. The couple bought their sleek Tesla Roadster Sport in 2010 when there were no charging stations in the province nor even an ‘electric car’ classification for auto insurance in Alberta.

Now, Rasmussen says they will “always” stop in Red Deer on Hwy 2 trips for the charge.

Edmonton’s Peter Woytiuk bought his own Tesla Model S electric car in March after being on a waiting list for two years, and since then he has noticed the number of charging stations in the province double; there are approximately 30 now. He said he is looking forward to seeing charging stations across the province.

“Putting them in places like Peavey Mart is great because you’re not stuck to Hwy 2. You can go off the main transportation corridor and get around,” said Woytiuk.

The electric chargers come from Saskatoon-based Sun Country Highways, which last year set up charging points all along the Trans-Canada Highway and made the trip from coast-to-coast in an electric car. While Peavey Mart is the first retailer in the country to commit to installing chargers at all its locations, Sun Country president Kent Rathwell said he expects most businesses will offer the service within five years as more Canadians come around to electric cars.

mfish@www.reddeeradvocate.com