Springfield applies for electric car charging station grant

Springfield has applied for a state grant to establish a electric car charging station in downtown.
http://rutlandherald.com/article/20140329/NEWS02/703299947

The parking lot of the Springfield Savings & Loan is the proposed site for a station to charge electric cars. Photo: Photo by Len EmeryPublished March 29, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Springfield applies for electric car charging station grant By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — The Select Board approved an after-the-fact application for a state grant to establish an electric car charging station in downtown Springfield. The proposed location of the charging station would be in the Springfield Savings & Loan parking lot, located just south of the Town Hall. The Select Board approved the grant application after members were reassured by Carol Lighthall, executive director of Springfield On The Move, that the local contribution would amount to about $1,000 of in-kind services establishing the charging station. “This is a free lunch for Springfield,” said Select Board member David Yesman. Town Manager Robert Forguites said the grant application was “already in Montpelier.” Lighthall said the total cost was about $27,795 with the state grant and funding from Green Mountain Power covering most of the cost. Approval of the grant application wasn’t without some criticism, as some townspeople said that Green Mountain Power’s power mix wasn’t so carbon-neutral, and that the project should instead be hooked up to a local hydroelectric dam on the Black River, or solar. Resident Walter Dodd said GMP buys 5 percent of its power from wood-fired power plants, as well as 30 percent on the spot market. A car being charged with GMP power “is probably emitting more carbon than a gas car,” Dodd said. Chris Coughlin said electric cars weren’t contributing via the gas tax, and thus weren’t paying their share of road maintenance. Lighthall said that while there are very few local electric vehicles in the Springfield area, establishing one of the state’s charging stations in downtown Springfield is a great signal to the outside community that Springfield is “forward looking.” “We’re hoping it gives a positive impression of our community,” she said. How exactly people will pay for the electric charge, which takes about six hours, is still to be determined, Lighthall said, but some kind of card-swipe payment system is likely. Lighthall said Springfield Savings & Loan endorsed the project, and agreed to designate two parking spots in its employee parking lot for the charging station. If the station ceases to exist, the spaces will revert to the bank, she said. The biggest costs of the charging station would be $7,500 for the charger and $8,795 for installation. Bringing power to the site will cost about $6,000. The town would provide site stripping, lettering and signage, estimated at about $1,000, she said. Forguites, who has been working with Lighthall on the application, said the deadline was March 10. Lighthall said she had looked at six different sites, and that the emphasis was on a visible, downtown location. Other sites included a location on Factory Street. She said the cost of $6,000 to bring power to the charging station was a “fluid number.”