EV charging station to be unveiled Monday

Georgia Regents University will unveil its new electric vehicle charging station on Monday, March 9 starting at 3 p.m., and everyone is welcome to attend.

As part of the unveiling, an all-electric Nissan Leaf, provided by an area Nissan dealership, will be plugged into the charger for the first time. The Signet 50kW DC Quick Charger station, which has been installed in the parking lot of the Student Center at 1459 Laney Walker Blvd., can charge electric vehicles and hybrids in 17-22 minutes.

The CHAdeMO (the trade name of a quick-charging method for electric cars) station, donated by Nissan, is compatible with Nissan’s Leaf, Mitsubishi i-MiEV cars and, with an adapter, some Tesla models.

To charge their car, a driver will be able to enter the Student Center parking lot from Laney Walker Boulevard, park in front of the charging station to the right of the building, swipe their credit card to pay a minimal fee, and then plug the port into their car.

Georgia Regents University received the charging station with a grant administered through the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority, which awarded 33 rebates totaling $278,386 to install the new stations across the state. Georgia Regents University was one of 18 state and local organizations that received the grant.

There are more than 220,000 plug-in electric and hybrid cars on the road today, with Nissan Leafs and Chevrolet Volts leading the pack. The 2015 all-electric Nissan Leaf has a battery range of up to 126 miles in the city. The 2015 hybrid Chevrolet Volt can run up to 38 miles on battery power before seamlessly switching to gasoline.

“This new EV station was a great collaboration between the Georgia Regents Facilities Services Department and Auxiliary Services. The two departments collaborated on the grant application and installation process and cost,” said Karl Munschy, Director of Auxiliary Administration.