Melfort’s Riverside Chrysler dealership is now home to the first charging station in the northeast region.
General Manager Doug Kurtenbach told northeastNOW they have a station inside their shop, and one outside for public use. It’s been up and running for a few weeks, he said.
Kurtenbach said manufacturers, including Stellantis, which owns the Chrysler family of vehicles, are mandating having a certain number of electric vehicles in their lineup in the next decade. Kurtenbach said they’re training their employees and they need to be prepared for more and more electric vehicles coming.
“It’s also really cool to kind of have that edge or that new product coming down the line that’s going to be good for our area,” he said.
While the electric vehicles currently on the road still run on gas, the electric technologies in the vehicles improve gas mileage drastically for the user. Kurtenbach gave an example with one of their new Jeep Wranglers that gets upwards of 50 miles per gallon with the hybrid option.
He added electric vehicles are here and they need to adjust to the times.
“If there’s a need, we want to supply it,” Kurtenbach said. “We want to take care of our customers.”
There’s also a number of rebates available, depending on the province, for buying electric vehicles.
Kurtenbach said they’ve already got some of those Wranglers on order and they will be in Melfort in 2021.
Riverside General Manager Doug Kurtenbach with one of the two charging stations at the dealership in Melfort. (Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)While the charging station is at a Chrysler dealership, it is useable for all types of electric vehicles.
Kurtenbach added they haven’t had any usage of the station yet, but he’s expecting the use to go up in the future.
Humboldt and Prince Albert are other local communities with electric vehicle charging stations.
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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca
On Twitter: @matbarrett6
