Leading the charge: Portage County locations adding electric vehicle charging stations
With Ohio gearing up to boost the number of electric vehicle charging stations, some Portage County communities and entities have actively sought to jump on board.
Melanie Knowles, Kent State University's sustainability manager, said KSU began installing charging stations around 2012 and now has eight scattered in parking lots around the campus, including three that began operating just this past spring.
"We know we have people coming to campus regularly, as well as visitors to campus, who have electric vehicles and may need to charge while they're here," she said. "So we want to make sure that we have the infrastructure to be able to accommodate that."
The Portage County Regional Transit Authority also provides public charging stations at its Kent Central Gateway parking garage.
"It's just trying to stay as diverse as we can in the transportation market," said PARTA Chief Operating Officer Brian Trautman.
Two recently installed stations now provide options in a portion of the county that was previously an EV charging station desert, in Garrettsville and Windham.
And thanks to efforts at the state level to develop a charging station infrastructure along interstates in Ohio, one is expected to be put into place at the Brimfield Meijer store.
For various reasons, including because the charging stations are too new or they are not set up to provide data, solid numbers showing how much stations are used is unavailable, but in at least some cases, sources say they have reason to believe they are being used enough to make them worthwhile.
Demand is expected to increase as electric vehicle sales continue to accelerate.
There are currently about 53,000 registered electric vehicles in Ohio, according the governor's office.
KSU chargers go back a decade
According to online maps showing charging stations in Portage County, Kent in particular seems to have more than its share, including at KSU and PARTA's Kent Central Gateway.
Knowles said four of KSU's stations have single ports and four have two for a total of 12. Up until this spring, the campus had five stations in parking lots at Harbourt Hall, Heer Hall, the Institutional Advancement building at Summit and Lincoln streets, the Center for Visual Arts, and Kent Student Center.
Three more were then added in the spring, at the Center for Performing Arts, Bowman Hall and the Liquid Crystals Materials Science / Aeronautics Technology buildings. All three are dual port chargers paid for with an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency grant totaling $45,000.
Go to https://tinyurl.com/3jahzvn5 for a map of the KSU campus.
Power for the chargers is supplied by KSU's own Summit Street power plant. How people pay for charges depends on the station. It could be through a direct payment at the charger, a parking lot fee or at a parking meter.
Go to https://tinyurl.com/ykmw35vefor more information about the KSU chargers.
Knowles said that while hard numbers on usage are not currently available, "we know anecdotally that they were being used." This includes payments made at the parking meters and requests the university has received for additional charging stations.
Knowles said the new charging stations, unlike the older ones, are part of a network that allows for the collection of usage statistics, but are too new for any good numbers to be available. A condition of the grant is that usage data for those three stations be provided to the EPA over the next five years.
There was a day in May, said Knowles, when there were a total of 10 charges at the three newest stations, a record so far. She acknowledged this may not sound like a lot, but pointed out that this was soon after the stations began operating and not many people were aware yet that they were there.
"We're keeping an eye on how this develops over time and how many people are using the stations, what the demand will be and we're just trying to accommodate the folks who are coming to campus," she said.
More: What we know about Kent's Climate Action Plan to mitigate effects of climate change
PARTA part of charging station expansion
Trautman said PARTA has two charging stations with a total of three ports on the first level of the Kent Central Gateway parking garage, 201 E. Erie St.
"The charging stations would be on your left as you come up and start to make your turn at the top of the ramp," he said
Trautman said the stations were put in around 2015 or 2016 because PARTA supports different modes of transportation. Besides running buses and providing parking for vehicles, there are bicycles racks at Kent Central Gateway and a compressed natural gas fuel station at 2000 Summit Road.
"I think that the electric charging stations have a good fit inside the city areas or the more populated areas," said Trautman. "It seems like, you know, more and more people are getting electric cars to do their commuting."
Trautman said he did not have data about usage of the charging stations, but people have been seen using them regularly and it is noticed when the charging stations need maintenance.
"There are some customers that use them, I think, almost every day during the week," he said. "I've seen times when we've had special events where all three [ports] are being used at one time. So they get a fair amount of usage, enough that when it goes down, I get a phone call pretty quick."
Villages first in their area
Garrettsville Mayor Rick Patrick credited the efforts of former Village Councilman Tom Collins for the village's new dual-port charger in a municipal parking lot behind the High Street police station. Collins died in January 2022.
"We wanted to make sure it got done in his memory," said Patrick, adding that Collins was instrumental in getting an Ohio EPA grant to pay for the station.
"It's kind of neat, unique, because out of our villages in the area, we're the first ones to do anything, get one," he said.
Village Fiscal Officer Donna Love said the charger became operational during the first half of May. The grant, she said, is for $13,309 and is expected to pay for at least most of the charger's cost.
Windham Fiscal Officer Katrina Washington said the village's charging station became operational at 9015 Maple Grove Road in early July. It is in the parking lot of a building that the village police department is planning to move into.
Washington said at least part of the station's cost was also paid for with an Ohio EPA grant, totaling $14,063.
"I know it's pretty standard for everybody. The dollar amount, it's like the same all across the board," said Washington.
Payment for charges is made via AmpUp, a downloadable mobile payment app. Go to https://ampup.io/drivers for more information.
A larger charging station was installed earlier this year in the Aurora Memorial Library parking lot, thanks to a $30,000 Ohio EPA grant.
More: Electric car charging stations installed at Aurora Memorial Library
Ravenna City also attempted to get an Ohio EPA grant for its own charging station in 2022, but was unsuccessful.
Meijer store expected to get charging station
Gov. Mike DeWine's Office announced last fall that $100 million was being made available for charging stations statewide. To get funding, proposed charging stations must follow requirements spelled in Ohio's EV Infrastructure Development Plan, created by Drive Ohio, an initiative of the Ohio Department of Transportation. This includes that chargers accommodate at least four direct current fast chargers with at least 150 kilowatts per port. At the time, Ohio had 13 such charging stations, with plans to have 30 more by 2025.
DeWine's office announced July 13 that $24 million is earmarked to install and operate 27 fast charging stations along seven interstates in Ohio, with $18 million coming from the Federal Highway Administration's National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program and $6 million from various private entities. The stations are to be in a variety of locations in 50-mile intervals and located within a mile of the interstate.
“This is an exciting time for Ohio as we continue to lead the charge in electric mobility,” said DeWine in a media release. “As more Ohioans purchase EVs, this statewide network of chargers will ensure that our transportation infrastructure is prepared to accommodate these drivers, as well as visitors who travel to Ohio to see all that our great state has to offer.”
One of the locations slated for a charging station is in Portage County at the Meijer store off Tallmadge Road in Brimfield, just a little west of Interstate 76. Meijer is one of the private entities providing funding.
"About 29% of our stores have EV chargers, so we continue to build out EV charging stations at our stores to facilitate electric vehicles for our customers," said Erik Petrovskis, Meijer's director of environmental compliance and sustainability. "So we see that as a role within our community to enable EV charging, which aligns with our commitment to reduce carbon emissions."
Petrovskis said Meijer is still determining a timeline for installing the charging station and whether it will be at a Meijer Express gas station by the road or farther back, closer to the store.
Petrovskis said Meijer has had enough of a history with electric vehicle charging stations to feel confident of success.
"We put in our first chargers 10 years ago when EVs were first being driven and so we've learned a lot through that process," he said. "Our stores have a mix of chargers owned by third parties like Tesla and Electrify America, as well as chargers that we own ourselves. And so we have a portfolio that has been pretty successful. Tesla, of course, launched its network, their cross country traveling network, and they selected Meijer as its partner and so we've had a growing relationship with Tesla. But we also develop our own chargers and the charger here at our Brimfield Township store is one we will own ourselves."
Where to find charging stations
Need a charge for your electric vehicle? Go to https://chargehub.com or https://driver.chargepoint.com for maps showing locations across the country.
Reporter Jeff Saunders can be reached at jsaunders@recordpub.com.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Portage County locations adding electric vehicle charging stations
