Cumberland, Md., Adds First EV Charging Station Downtown
Officials announced the no-cost electric vehicle charging station this week during a virtual city council meeting, saying that the new infrastructure is hopefully the first of many to come.
City officials will hold a ribbon cutting next week for a new electric vehicle charging station in the downtown.
The two-car EV charging station is located at 40 N. Liberty St. across from Coney Island Famous Weiners.
Cumberland Mayor Ray Morriss announced the completion of the station at Tuesday’s virtual City Council meeting. The ribbon cutting will take place at 1 p.m. on Feb. 5.
“Knowing that it is something we are going to need in the future, it’s good that this will give (electric vehicle owners) access in the downtown area,” said Morriss.
Jeff Rhodes, city administrator, said the Liberty Street station can charge two cars at a time.
“The design of it is in between two lanes,” said Rhodes, “so it can charge cars in both lanes at the same time. The station is at no cost to the city with the program sponsored by Potomac Edison.”
A subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., Potomac Edison recently launched “EV Driven,” which features publicly available electric vehicle charging stations with rebates for both residential and multifamily charger installations as well as incentives for EV charging during off-peak hours. The five-year commission-approved pilot program is expected to benefit the state’s environment by reducing auto emissions.
As part of the program, Potomac Edison is installing 59 charging stations that will be available for public use throughout Maryland.
Electric cars are a rapidly growing trend across America. Electric car maker Tesla became one of the first automakers to successfully mass produce electric cars after its first model, the Roadster, rolled off the assembly line in 2009.
Morriss said he would like to see more EV charging stations in Cumberland in the future.
“Hopefully this is the first of many to come,” said Morriss. “It would be good to get a charging station in one of the parking areas downtown.”
“We initially looked at the George Street (Center City Parking) garage but due to the electrical configuration it was going to be much more costly for Potomac Edison to install it there,” said Rhodes. “It was much less expensive to install on Liberty Street.”
Source : govtech
