Electric Cars
For $3 a pop electric car owners can now charge their vehicles at two different locations in Tacoma. The new car charging stations, located at the Pierce County downtown campus at South 13th and Yakima, and at the Public Services Annex on South 35th Street, are available to the public. Three other charging stations now in operation support the three Nissan Leafs recently added to the County’s fleet.
All five stations were funded by the U.S. Department of Energy as a part of programs aimed at decreasing the nation’s petroleum dependence. The public charging stations are a part of the effort to create a regional infrastructure to support making the I-5 one of the US’s first “electric highways.”
We’re glad to hear that the county is going a little greener, and that there are more options for private electric car drivers too. If you own an electric car, or have been thinking about getting one, will these stations be helpful? Are there other places you’d like to see the chargers?
Read more from The Daily Index.
Details on the chargers from Pierce County Facilities Management.
Filed under: General
7 comments
J Jake January 5, 2012
There are also new charging stations at the Tacoma Convention Center parking lot A. About 5 charging stations with 10 or so parking spaces.
K Karen L. Jensen January 5, 2012
Good for us! 3, count ‘em 3 recharging stations! What is stopping our gas stations from adding this to their businesses?
A Amy January 5, 2012
I’ve noticed quite a few of them around the Olympia area. Including Costco.
T tom waits January 6, 2012
They are being installed in the Old Town Business District as well.
R RichardG January 6, 2012
This would make little sense for a gas station as it takes over 3 hours to fully charge a Nissan Leaf (with a 440-480V system, a 220V charger is more likely and takes twice as long). All for $3. That is about what it costs to park in downtown Tacoma! Even a one hour top-off charge for $3 doesn’t make financial sense (takes away a parking space that would generate more than $3 in mini-mart sales). Plus there are few gas stations downtown (Chevron @26/Pac Ave, U76 by the hospital on MLK/19th).
T TacomaMike January 6, 2012
Since you asked, I do own a Leaf, and no, I don’t see these particular stations as being helpful for the typical Tacoma EV owner. Why would we use them? For example, even if I were waiting all day at the Annex for a building permit, I don’t need the juice as I can charge up at home. As Tacoma has the cheapest power around, I’d rather plug in at home at $0.07/kWh anyway versus the $3 fee the County wants. Talk about a charge, yikes! Compare that to the $6/week TOTAL for my entire 5 days/week 60-mile RT work commute. And for a typical I-5 traveler looking for a charging station, the County Annex location leaves alot to be desired; certainly not where I’d like to hang out for 5 hours to get a full charge. An “A” for effort and good intentions, but I expect they’ll not be used. The L2 chargers are mainly for home garages and fleet vehicles, not people stopping by. However if they were L3 chargers (80% charge in 20 mins), now THOSE would be handy and worth a $3 charge.
J JJ January 7, 2012
Eventually electric cars won’t need heavy very expensive batteries,be costly and have limited range because
all the roads will eventually be powered wirelessly through resonant magnetic fields by Witricity