Lisbon’s first electric vehicle charging station opens to the public Thursday.
The installation of the four charge plugs mounted on two pedestals at the town parking lot off Main Street cost the town a little over $19,000, while Central Maine Power Co. contributed $16,000.
Councilor Don Fellows said the charging station would help draw electric and hybrid vehicle owners to the town, located on the Route 196 corridor between Topsham, Brunswick and Lewiston.
“The reason we got the grant is because of visibility,” said Fellows. “We chose a location that is close to other businesses and close to where people would come to shop or eat. Part of the grant criteria was to be on a corridor, and the corridor is Route 196 leading between Topsham and Brunswick area and Lewiston.”
Fellows continued: “We know that these vehicles are mostly charged at home, but when somebody stops here, all they are doing is getting their vehicles enough charged to go home or extend the battery range long enough to show up here before they go home, so that was the whole point of setting up the station at this location.”
There are electric charging stations at Hannaford in Topsham and two in Auburn at car dealerships.
The town’s electric vehicle chargers will deliver an average of 7 kilowatt-hours of electricity per hour of use. The users will be charged about a quarter per kilowatt-hour, plus a session fee of approximately $1.25.
“I think it is a great opportunity to serve the people within the community. They have a need for charging stations, and it will also attract new people to stop in and visit our local businesses,” said Town Council Chair Fern Larochelle. “There are two pedestals and two stations that can charge four vehicles at one time. I am not sure whether or not we have that type of need now, but I am sure that we will see these stations being used regularly.”
According to Portland Press Herald, about 980 electric vehicles were sold in Maine in 2020, about 1.5 percent of total light-duty vehicles sold and slightly below the national average.
Since 2019 the number of battery-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles has increased by 90% to 5,577 vehicles. The number of charging stations increased by 62% to 265 statewide over the same period, according to the Maine Clean Transportation Roadmap Report released in December 2021.
The state’s climate action plan, “Maine Won’t Wait,” estimates Maine needs 219,000 light-duty electric vehicles on the road by 2030 to meet its emissions targets.
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