'Once you drive an electric vehicle, you'll never drive a gas car again'

Electric car drivers can now plug in their vehicles and get a charge at locations in downtown London.

But you still have to pay for parking.

The electric charging locations are located at:

• Near the corner of Dundas and Wellington Streets
• Talbot Street across from the Budweiser Gardens
• Pall Mall just off Richmond Street

The City of London along with London Hydro, the federal government and Flo, Canada's largest electrical vehicle charging network, officially unveiled the three curbside charging stations in the downtown core on Friday.

"It's a great partnership," saidBrookesShean, Flo's general manager for central Canada. "It was the joint effort that made this a success and brought it all together,"

The cost of theproject was around $70,000.

The charging stations are easy to spot with their blue and green paint. The stations are strictly for charging and cannot be used by non-electricvehicles for parking.

Electric car driversactivate the charger through their Flo account either with a card or by using the Flo app. The costis $1.50 an hour plus the parking fee.

More locations coming to London

Flo is currently working to expand the project.

Expect to see parking spots dedicated to charging electricvehicles at Masonvilleand White Oaks malls.

"When it comes to future planning, for malls and subdivisions, I think this will start being considered as part of the development," said Nancy Hutton, Director of Public Relations and CorporateCommunication at London Hydro.

Hutton added there arearound 500 electric vehiclesin London and the new curbside charging stations have been used over 50 times since they opened earlier this month.

Deputy MayorPaul Hubert said he hopes this initiative will encourage more people to drive electric cars. The cityplansto introduce electric buses and garbage trucks in the near future.

"Once you drive an electric vehicle, you'll never drive a gas car again, they're just so much better," said Jamie Skimming, manager of air quality at the City of London.