COLCHESTER, VT — (Marketwire) — 02/14/12 — Green Mountain Power (GMP) and the City of Montpelier are excited to announce the opening of a new public electric vehicle (EV) charging station, located behind City Hall. The public will be able to charge their vehicles at the station at no cost for the first year. This is the third public EV charging station that GMP has made available to the people of Vermont.
“We believe that the City of Montpelier is an ideal place for our newest EV station,” said Mary Powell, President and CEO of Green Mountain Power. “Providing this infrastructure across Vermont is a critical step toward the increased use of electric vehicles. This project and others like it are essential to our efforts to make alternative energy vehicles — and the savings they can provide — more accessible to Vermonters.”
“Customers can charge up their electric cars while running errands downtown,” said Montpelier City Manager William Fraser. “This is an excellent partnership that I hope to see grow as the market for electric cars expands.”
This new Coulomb Technologies CT2100 Chargepoint electric vehicle charging station is compatible with all electric vehicles on the market today. It includes customer oriented features such as on-line and smart phone directions and reservations, driver notification of charge status, and effortless charging session initiation. The system will also provide feedback so that GMP can better understand how drivers of plug-in vehicles use community charging stations, so that this public service can continue to improve.
“Forty-seven percent of Vermont–s greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation,” says Powell. “Increasing the number of cars that run on low carbon electricity is one of many strategies that Vermont can employ to reduce reliance on foreign oil and lower our emissions.”
The market for EV is projected to grow in the coming years, with more than 100 plug-in electric or hybrid models available by 2013. Green Mountain Power is committed to support this growing trend. In addition to the Montpelier charging station, Green Mountain Power has installed EV fueling stations at Saint Michael–s College in Colchester, and at Healthy Living Market in South Burlington. Each EV charging station is paired with a nearby solar array that generates enough clean renewable energy to offset the electricity required by the charging station.
EV charging stations are different than the traditional gas station model, as fully charging a vehicle takes multiple hours, and will typically be done at home. However, public charging stations provide a critical service to drivers as they are often used to “top off” vehicles to extend their travel range.
To demonstrate its commitment to leadership in the area of alternative energy and electric vehicle use, Green Mountain Power currently operates 22 hybrid vehicles, including two bucket trucks and three Toyota Prius converted to plug-in hybrids powered by solar arrays, and two GEM neighborhood electric vehicles.
The public is encouraged to visit to learn more about GMP–s public EV charging stations and to get information about available vehicles.
About Green Mountain Power
Green Mountain Power () generates, transmits, distributes and sells electricity in the State of Vermont and is a leader in wind and solar generation. It serves more than 96,000 customers.