BELLINGHAM - Sehome Village shopping center will sport the first high-speed electric vehicle charging station to be installed as part of a statewide project.
Underground work has already occurred, and officials expect the charging station to be installed and activated by the end of March 2012.
City and state officials and local business representatives participated in a ground-breaking ceremony for the high-speed station, which can charge a vehicle in 30 minutes or less. The state plans to install six of the stations along Interstate 5, two along Interstate 90 and three along U.S. 2. They won't go into the densely populated areas of central Puget Sound; instead, they'll fill gaps between Vancouver, B.C. and Portland, Ore. The U.S. 2 stations will end at Leavenworth.
Each site also will include medium-speed chargers. The project is funded with more than $1 million in federal stimulus money.
As part of a separate federally funded project, nearly two dozen high-speed chargers will be installed in the central Puget Sound area.
At Sehome Village, the charging station will be located just south of Starbucks. Through a competitive bidding process, the state selected AeroVironment to manufacture, install, maintain and own and operate the stations for a minimum of three years.
Drivers will pay to use them, money that will cover electricity costs and provide the company some profit. Federal money will defray company costs, including for installation and maintenance, making the charger economically feasible, said Tonia Buell, project development and communications manager for the public-private partnerships office of the state Department of Transportation.
The government aims to assure drivers that if they buy electric vehicles they'll be able to find charging stations between population centers, she said.
"We're just putting the basic building blocks out there, and eventually private retailers will take it from there," she said.
The state plans to install a medium-speed charger at the Custer rest area along I-5, part of a demonstration for visitors from Canada. But it can't install and activate the station until it finds a sponsor to pay for the electricity costs, which are expected to be minimal, Buell said. Underground electrical work has already taken place to get the rest area ready for the station.
At the ground-breaking at Sehome Village, outgoing Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike said it feels good to celebrate the new charging station as he ends his term. It's entirely appropriate that Bellingham get the first of the high-speed stations because it's a community where sustainability efforts are really reaching fruition, said Pike, a former transportation planner.
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