Pima County, Ariz. (Aug. 12, 2011) – Electric-vehicle charging stations are being installed in the parking lots at eight Pima County libraries this summer. The project is among the county’s efforts to reduce the use of fossil fuels, provide better air quality and encourage clean technology.
The 16 stations – two to a library – are located in high-traffic areas, mostly in central Tucson and on the city’s East Side. They’ll be ready for use by electric car operators in early September.
Each public library will have two “supplemental” charging stations. They’re meant for recharging – not fully charging a vehicle. These supplemental chargers would require four to six hours to fully charge an electric vehicle.
The alternate fuel vehicles that will use the library charging stations will be routinely charged at charging stations already installed at the owner’s residence.
The sites for the charging stations were chosen as part of ECOtality’s Micro-Climate planning process, in collaboration with Pima County, Pima Association of Governments” Tucson Clean Cities program and the Tucson EV Project Advisory Team. ECOtality, Inc. is the San Francisco-based for-profit manager of EV Project.
Colleen Crowninshield, manager of PAG’s Tucson Clean Cities program, said the county libraries were chosen because they are “high traffic” sites.
Here are the locations of the Pima County libraries being fitted with car chargers:
- Joel D. Valdez Main Library, 101 N. Stone Ave.
- Eckstrom-Columbus Branch Library, 4350 E. 22nd St.
- Himmel Park Branch Library, 1035 N. Treat Ave.
- Kirk-Bear Canyon Branch Library, 8959 E. Tanque Verde Road
- Martha Cooper Branch Library, 1377 N. Catalina Avenue
- Nanini Branch Library, 7300 N. Shannon Road
- Woods Memorial Branch Library, 3455 N. First Ave.
- Murphy-Wilmot Branch Library, 530 N. Wilmot Road
The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy through a federal stimulus grant of $114.8 million, made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) The grants are matched by private investment, bringing the total value of the project to approximately $230 million, said Marc Sobelman, ECOtality area manager for Arizona.
ECOtality, with the DOE funding, is paying for the installation and operating costs of the charging stations throughout the duration of the EV Project in Pima County. The experimental phase of the project ends in December 2012.
The charging stations at the libraries will be then be turned over to Pima County at no cost.
Under the agreement with ECOtality, Pima County can keep the charging stations and take on the maintenance costs, or have them removed at no cost to the county.
“The 16-city EV Project is compatible with Pima County government’s own sustainability goals, and it is an exceptional opportunity for the local community to participate as well,” said Linda Mayro, director of Pima County’s Office of Sustainability and Conservation.
Terry Finefrock, Pima County’s chief contracts and procurement manager, called the charging stations “a super deal for our community.”
ECOtality has already installed car charging stations at several other sites in Pima County as part of the same nationwide project, in agreements with other local jurisdictions.
Pima County Supervisor Ramón Valadez is to appear Saturday, Aug. 13, at 10 a.m. at the grand opening of two electric charger stations that have been installed in the Town of Sahuarita, at Rancho Sahuarita Marketplace, 15990 S. Rancho Sahuarita Blvd.
Oro Valley is also taking part in the national EV Project. Four public electric-vehicle charging stations were installed in June in the town, at the Oro Valley Town Hall, 11000 N. La Canada Drive.
Sobelman said an estimated 125 electric charging stations will be installed in the Tucson area at various sites by the end of this year.
The Electric Vehicle Project includes a research component. Owners of electric vehicles who have agreed to participate in the project with ECOtality received residential chargers at no cost.
More than 8,000 electric vehicle drivers in 18 cities are participating in the project. ECOtality North America will collect data from them to:
- Study vehicle use in “diverse” topographic and climatic conditions
- Evaluate the effectiveness of charge infrastructure
- Conduct trials of various revenue systems for commercial and public charge infrastructures
For more about Project EV in Tucson go to:
http://www.pagnet.org/Programs/EnergyPlanningAltFuels/CleanFuelsCleanCities/ElectricVehiclesTucson/tabid/1010/Default.aspx
To see a map of Tucson-area electric charging stations go to: http://gismaps.pagnet.org/EVChargingStations/default.aspx
