Posted Dec. 22, 2015 at 2:01 AM

CANANDAIGUA — Are electric vehicles in Canandaigua’s future?

Perhaps, but not without places to charge them. And that’s what a planning group is trying to do — identify locations and seek out grants and private investments to make it happen.

David L. Keefe, coordinator of the nonprofit Genesee Region Clean Communities, has approached City Council as well as several key leaders in the community about potential locations. Funding and installing are steps down the road.

“I think it’s a no-brainer,” Keefe said.

The organization is in the midst of preparing for a planning grant, which is expected to be completed in February 2016 and submitted to New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), which says electric vehicles can save drivers on fuel costs and reduce air pollution by driving greener.

The group also is looking for private investment in the chargers as well — the North Face store in Victor is one site that has a charger, Keefe said.

The chargers for electric vehicles are like a gas station for petroleum-consuming vehicles. The city of Rochester has 40 such stations, more than half of which received some funding from NYSERDA, Keefe said.

Canandaigua is considered a key location for chargers for many reasons, said Keefe, who is a Canandaigua resident. The city, plus some locations outside the city border, fit in with a potential electric vehicle transportation corridor.

And Canandaigua is a destination spot, for businesses and shops downtown as well as the lake and other tourism locations, Keefe said.

Canandaigua is among several other communities listed in a top five for electric vehicle chargers. They include Batavia, Victor, Brockport and Geneseo.

“It’s a viable area,” Keefe said. “We want to put stations where they will be used and where there aren’t stations now.”

A few of the key locations for chargers include downtown, the New York Wine and Culinary Center, Parkway Plaza, Kershaw Park, Wegmans and Finger Lakes Community College, Keefe said.

Several other locations also would work.

“We’re not going to come in and say ‘this is where they need to go,’” Keefe said. “We are seeking input.”

A preliminary presentation before City Council drew some support for the idea, including from Mayor Ellen Polimeni.

“This is something I think is needed in Canandaigua,” Polimeni said.

Members of the group, which include representatives from Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Rochester, the state Department of Transportation and other transportation planners, try to think of someone who has an electric vehicle and where that person may want to travel, Keefe said.

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