The Town of Chapel Hill held a ribbon cutting ceremony last week for a new electric vehicle charging station at the Homestead Aquatic Center.
The two charging stations, which were the result of a $10,000 grant from Duke Energy, count as the town’s fifth and sixth electric vehicle charging stations.
Mayor Pam Hemming says these stations will come in handy due to the concentration of electric vehicle users in Chapel Hill.
“We have the highest concentration of electric vehicles in the state,” says Hemminger. “An electric-vehicle user spends on average $400 a year on energy for their car, and a gas-driving vehicle spends about $1,200 on average for their car. So, not only does it reduce your carbon footprint and put out less pollution, but you can save a lot of money.”
All six of the town-owned stations are classified as level-two chargers, which are capable of fully charging a 100-mile range electric vehicle in four to six hours.
Hemminger says the town has discussed methods of tracking the charging station’s amount of use, but drivers parking their electric vehicles at the stations for longer than they need to be charged has made that difficult.
“As we get more vehicles, we’ll come up with more guidelines, but, for now, it seems to be fine,” says Hemminer. “I don’t think anyone’s really complained about not finding a station available for them to charge their car.”
Chapel Hill was recently named one of the greenest cities in North Carolina by Insurify.
Photo via Town of Chapel Hill
