By Stephen Seitz
WOODSTOCK—Thanks to a grant from the Tesla car company, two charging stations are coming to Woodstock’s Park and Ride site.
“There’s a program for EV charging,” said police Sgt. Joe Swanson, who researched and wrote the $3,000 grant. “One is a Tesla charger, and the other is a universal charger. They cost about $1,500 apiece.”
Swanson said he didn’t know exactly when the stations would be installed.
“This fall would be fantastic,” he said, “but I don’t want to get my hopes up for October. If we have to, we’ll take delivery and install them in the spring.”
Drivers will pay via parking meter, and will be charged $1 per hour.
There are 157 charging stations in Vermont, according to the state-supported website Drive Electric Vermont. Locally, they can be found at the Killington Mountain Resort, in Rutland at the Hampton Inn and Gryphon Square, at Twin Farms in Barnard (Tesla only), and at the Vermont Antiques Mall in Quechee. (For a complete list visit driveelectricvt.com).
For those thinking about electric cars, there is a federal income tax credit of $7,500 to encourage people to buy them. There are also solar-powered charging stations for the home, according to Drive Electric Vermont.
“Reduce your charging costs and bring net carbon emissions near zero by installing photovoltaic solar panels (PV) with your EV charging equipment,” according to driveelectricvt.com. “If you consider that the average EV gets close to three miles to the kilowatt hour and the average Vermonter will drive it a little over 12,000 miles a year, most people will need to install around a 4kW system to cancel out the electricity demands of their vehicle.”
Meanwhile, the state is collaborating with other states to get more electric vehicles on the roads, and has a grant program to help towns and cities expand the charging station network. The state is also adding electric cars to its own fleet for state business travel.
Information and resources can be found at driveelectricvt.com.