by Geoff Fox
In December 2019, the town held a small ribbon cutting on two electric car-charging stations in the Rail Trail parking lot.
The past week, three more stations became fully operational in the parking lot for Joseph Hancock Park and the town’s municipal parking lot on Canal Street.
Town Manager Joe Gilbert said a contractor from Potomac Edison installed them.
“They’ve been working on them for several months,” he said in an email.
Gilbert said there was no cost to the town for the stations to be installed.
As for differences between the three new charging stations and the previous two, there’s no difference except for the provider.
According to the Electric Vehicle Institute’s website, the cost for the municipal parking lot charger is $0.16/kWh, the Joseph Hancock Park charger is $0.30/kWh for DC and $0.16/kWh for AC, and the Rail Trail parking lot is an initial fee of $2.50 plus $0.20 per minute.
Three new electric vehicle chargers were installed recently at Joseph Hancock Park and the town’s municipal parking lot on Canal Street. The stations were installed by Potomac Edison and came at no cost to the town. With the installation of these three stations, it brings the total to five electric vehicle charges in town.
As of last Friday, the charging station at the municipal lot had two check-ins on the EVI’s site and the Rail Trail lot had 120 check-ins since they went online. One check-in for the Joseph Hancock Park location was recorded in October, well before the stations were installed and brought online.
“Having five chargers spread throughout the Town is beneficial to the whole community,” Gilbert said.
As of right now, there are no plans to add more chargers.
