Fayetteville Charging Station Installed

— Drivers of electric cars have a new place to “fill up” in Fayetteville.

The city and Ozarks Electric Cooperative partnered earlier this month to install an electric vehicle charging station in the parking lot across from the City Administration Building, 113 W. Mountain St.

Ozarks Electric representatives were out Friday testing the station on a 2012 Chevrolet Volt the company owns.

AT A GLANCE

Charging Stations

Public electric vehicle charging stations:

Fayetteville City Administration Building: 113 W. Mountain St.

University of Arkansas Garland Avenue Garage: 650 N. Garland Ave., Fayetteville

Superior Nissan of Fayetteville: 3372 N. College Ave.

Ozarks Electric Cooperative: 3641 W. Wedington Drive, Fayetteville

Landers McLarty Nissan: 2501 SE Moberly Lane, Bentonville

Kum & Go: 2710 Moberly Lane, Bentonville

Smith Nissan: 6520 Autopark Drive, Fort Smith

Source: U.S. Department Of Energy, Ozarks Electric Cooperative

Electric cars are still rare on area roadways. Keith Kaderly, Ozarks Electric’s manager of marketing and energy services, said Friday, “Northwest Arkansas is starting to embrace the technology. People just have to find a place to plug them in at.”

“What we’re wanting to do is encourage the technology,” he added. “We’re putting our product back in the car.”

The charging station, with two plugs, is available for public use. It can be accessed from three parking spaces, one of which will be reserved strictly for electric vehicles. Peter Nierengarten, city sustainability and strategic planning director, said another space could be reserved if the charging station gets a lot of use.

The city will pay the electric bill. Drivers still must pay 25 cents per hour to park in the lot between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. weekdays.

Nierengarten estimated $15 to $20 in added energy costs each month if the charging station gets moderate to heavy use. Ozarks Electric paid about $3,500 for the station, Kaderly said. The city used a portion of a 2010 Home Depot Foundation grant to pay for installation and electrical connection. Nierengarten estimated those costs about $1,000.

Kaderly said electric cars can reduce carbon emissions and U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Nierengarten said the charging station was made in America.

Mitch Styles, another Ozarks Electric representative who drives the Volt from his home in Pea Ridge to the company’s offices on Wedington Drive, said it takes about four hours to fully charge a depleted battery. Nierengarten said people might be more likely to spend money downtown while they wait for their vehicle to charge.

The Volt is a plug-in hybrid. It has a gasoline engine that kicks in when the electric battery is depleted. Styles said his Volt’s electric battery gets about 36 miles per charge.

A manager at Chevrolet of Fayetteville, 1310 W. Showroom Drive, said he didn’t have time to research how many Volts his dealership has sold. Two Volts were listed on the dealership’s website Friday at a manufacturer suggested retail price of $41,885 and $42,460.

The Nissan Leaf is an all-electric car with no gasoline engine. David Rathjen, sales manager at Superior Nissan of Fayetteville, 3372 N. College Ave., said the Leaf can go about 130 miles before it needs to be recharged.

Rathjen said his dealership has sold five Leafs in the past two years. The dealership had one Leaf in stock Friday. It had a sticker price of $34,740 on Superior Nissan’s website.

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