Kent ready for growth of electric vehicle market
Charging stations for electric and hybrid vehicles are becoming more popular. Our reporter, Crystal Smith, finds out how much these are really being used.
Words by Alex Cossin and Miranda Kiner
Sales of electric vehicles grew 25 percent between 2016 and 2017. Industry site Inside EVs found it was the most successful sales year ever recorded.
Kent State University and downtown Kent have introduced charging stations in the area to prepare for the influx of electric vehicle traffic.
Larry Emling, director of Parking Services at Kent State, has overseen the building of the campuses three total charging stations.
Originally the campus had one charging station that was reserved for the university fire safety division. The charging station quickly attracted the attention of electric car owners looking for a spot to energize their vehicles Emling said.
This prompted the university to search for locations to place charging stations for public use. The installation of charging stations coincides with projects done by the university Emling said.
“Heer hall was done and funded by another agency when human resources moved into (it). Three or four years ago we redid that parking lot,” Emling said. “The institutional advancement building was built a couple years ago. (When) they built the parking lot, the charging station was included in that. The only one that we paid for from parking money is the one at the student center and that lot we renovated two years ago and we decided we wanted a charging station in the middle of campus.”
Speaking of cost, Emling estimated the installation of the three stations to be around $3,000 to $4,000 each.
In order to park at a charging station, you’ll need an electric vehicle. Emling said they occasionally check the spots to ensure they’re being used by electric and hybrid vehicles.
In addition to needing an EV to park in a space, you’ll need to pay a meter. The meters cost 50 cents per hour. This is 50 cents cheaper than regular parking meters which cost one dollar per hour. With the charging station meters you get a four hour maximum time in the spot, two hours longer than regular metered spots. This is to ensure that the vehicles have time to be charged Emling said.
“Right now the machines we have are working, but they’re getting a little older. So we’re right on the edge of having to make some decisions about them in the next year or so,” Emling said. “If that time comes, or when it comes we’ll have to make that decision. Do we just buy new machines and take care of them ourselves, or do we look for a third party to come in and run something a little bit differently and maybe a little more user friendly for the people who have those vehicles.”
It’s hard to track the usage of the machines due to them being older models. The only way for the university to track usage is through the meters and that hasn’t been done for years Emling said.
While Kent campus does not monitor how often the charging stations are being used, PARTA does.
“We can track it, see how often it’s used, if it’s a person that is frequently using it or if it’s a random person,” said Joe Yensel, director of information technology at Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority (PARTA).
Yensel said the idea for charging stations emerged when the new parking deck downtown was being built.
“In 2015 we installed three (charging stations),” Yensel said. “We did get some requests, but we felt that charging stations really went with our mission of being a green-type organization and something that we could provide for people.”
“In this area it’s not real common to see electric cars, but I think there’s at least two or three that park there on a daily basis,” Yensel said.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, there are 671 public charging stations in Ohio.
Kent has five public charging stations.
According to a report by ChargingPoint, electric vehicle sales in 2017 were up 87% from 2015 in the United States. ChargePoint is a company that focuses on the “design, build and support all of the technology that powers this network, from charging station hardware to energy management software.”
The report also shows that 3 million fewer pounds of coal were burned in 2017 from drivers using electric vehicles.
“It’s nice knowing that I’m not making such a footprint on the earth,” said Mallory Gibson, a junior at Kent State studying fashion merchandising who drives a 2012 Chevy Volt.
If lessening your carbon footprint on the earth isn’t enough to convince you to switch to electric, there are state and federal incentives for drivers to switch to all-electric or hybrid cars.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, all-electric and plug-in hybrid cars purchased in or after 2010 are eligible for a federal tax credit of up to $7,500, depending on the capacity of the battery used to power the vehicle.
In Ohio, vehicles powered by electricity, propane or natural gas are exempt from state motor vehicle emissions inspections after receiving a one-time verification inspection.
Even with low electric vehicle traffic, charging stations are still being installed in the Kent area #JMCRPP
— Miranda Kiner (@mkiner2) February 15, 2018
Are electric vehicles really becoming the future or is KSU wasting money on electric charging stations? Find out more at https://t.co/lIZdintuoq #JMCRPP
— Crystal Smith (@crystalsmith22) February 15, 2018
Electric car sales are on the rise. KSU and downtown Kent are coping with the addition of charging stations. https://t.co/ceE5X8N1kf…#jmcrpp
— Alex Cossin (@Adubbed) February 15, 2018