A National Historic village in our region is now one of the few rural communities in this area that can offer electric vehicles a place to charge up their batteries.

The village of Neubergthal now boasts a brand new car charging station, thanks to Roy Abrams of Victoria, B.C., who made the generous donation.

Abrams has a special fondness for Neubergthal. His grandmother grew up in a housebarn there, and he has fond memories of playing in the village as a child.

He explains how a friend of his encouraged him to make a donation to the Neubergthal Heritage Foundation in support of the heritage village.

"I told him, I'd donate but I'd like to do something a little different. We had just purchased an electric vehicle at that point, so I suggested creating a collision of the different eras where the past meets the present and future to get people to come and visit the village."

Abrams says the Neubergthal Heritage Foundation board liked the idea of being able to draw another sector of the travelling public to Neubergthal and approved of installing the station near the Commons Barn.

"People driving electric vehicles are always looking for some place to top up their battery and some car clubs are interested in outings and events. So, I thought this might be a way of bringing in people to this historic village who might not otherwise have gone there."

Ray Hamm, who is with the Heritage Foundation, says part of their discussion on whether to allow a charging station into the historic village centred on how the community has always been a crossroad for ideas. Energy was one of the things Mennonites used when settling the prairies, according to Hamm.

"They had their own fuel, their own transportation, their own food and all kinds of things, and so energy is one of those things that should be on our map in terms of remembering what they used to do and thinking about how it could be. Electric vehicles seem to be the way things are going, so we thought putting the old and new together made sense."

The charging station is now located at the east end on the Commons Barn property, ready to be used by motorists who need to top up their car batteries.

"I'm really impressed by the forward thinking the folks in Neubergthal had about this whole project. They really got behind it and I think that bodes well for that little village and its future success," said Abrams.