Oak Ridge installing 10 electric vehicle charging stations

Oak Ridge has started installing 10 electric vehicle charging stations at five places in the city, and they should be ready to use by November, a press release said.

Two of the chargers, called Level II Blink chargers, will be installed at each of these five locations: the Oak Ridge Civic Center, Haw Ridge Park, Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, and Oak Ridge Fire Station No. 1 and Fire Station No. 2.

“The sites were selected on the basis of proximity to a frequently visited destination, or heavily traveled corridor,” the press release said.

The Level II chargers are able to fully charge a vehicle in four to six hours, and they will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The city is not required to pay an installation fee but will cover the minimal cost associated with electric consumption, the release said.

It’s part of the Electric Vehicle, or EV, Project, the largest deployment of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure in history, the press release said. The project is being funded by the U.S. Department of Energy through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The EV Project is being managed across the country under a $114.8 million grant to ECOtality, a company based in San Francisco, Calif.

The Oak Ridge press release said that the installation of the electric vehicle charging stations is another step toward becoming a more sustainable community, which supports the implementation of the city’s Climate Action Plan, or CAP.

For more information, contact Athanasia Senecal Lewis in the Oak Ridge Community Development Department at (865) 425-3574 or visit the city’s website at www.oakridgetn.gov.