“Wave of the future”: EV charging station available at Student Center

Drivers of some plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrids can soon charge their car’s battery on Georgia Regents University’s Health Sciences Campus.

A Signet 50kW DC Quick Charger station with two separate charge ports has been installed in the parking lot of the Student Center at 1459 Laney Walker Blvd., and it will soon be available for use.

The CHAdeMO (the trade name of a quick-charging method for electric cars) station, donated by Nissan, is compatible with Nissan’s all-electric Leaf, Mitsubishi i-MiEV cars, and with an adapter, some Tesla models. The CHAdeMO charger is also configured so that it could charge other types of electric vehicles in the future.

To charge their cars, drivers 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, and then plug the port into their car. There will be a $2 connection fee that will cover the first 30 minutes, and then the fee will be $5 per hour and will be prorated for each minute. Payment and driver solutions will be managed by Greenlots, greenlots.com. Greenlots offers a pay-by-phone feature, or they will supply a key fob to process payment.

Nathan Raith with Atlanta-based ChargeUp, the consulting firm which handled the project from start to finish, said the charging station is “top-of-the-line.”

“You can charge a car in 17 to 22 minutes with the 50 kilowatt output. It really gives the juice. The two different arms can fit most any vehicle on the road,” Raith said.

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.

As a result of the Charge Georgia program, the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority expects an 18 percent increase in public charging infrastructure to be installed by July 30.

“This is a huge step toward showing Georgia Regents University is environmentally friendly,” said Facilities Services Manager Michael Summers. “It makes a huge statement.”

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. On the national level, gas-powered cars cost about three times as much per mile as electric cars, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

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.

If saving at the pump isn’t enough to convince someone to purchase an all-electric or hybrid car, there are tax credits available to sweeten the deal. Electric vehicles may be eligible for a federal tax credit of up to $7,500.

“The market (for plug-in electric vehicles) is moving more quickly than the infrastructure. It really is the wave of the future. EV charging stations are the next Wi-Fi; if you don’t have one, you’re behind the times. I am excited Georgia Regents University is on board,” Raith said.

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