Hillsborough County adds 10 sites for recharging electric cars

By Tia Mitchell, St. Pete Times Staff Writer

Ten charging stations for electric vehicles will be installed around Hillsborough County in the coming months, all accessible to the public.

Seven stations will be located on county properties such as regional libraries and the Pierce Street garage. The St. Pete Times Forum will have two more and Hillsborough Community College will have another.

All are part of a national initiative, Project Get Ready, that ultimately could result in up to 100 charging stations in the area. The regional partnership includes government agencies, utility companies and businesses in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee and Sarasota counties.

On Wednesday, the Hillsborough County Commission approved the installation of the seven on county property. There is a $550 startup fee per device, and installation and materials is another $1,000 each.

Commissioner Mark Sharpe has championed the program, saying it will allow local auto dealers to embrace the new technology.

"They want to make sure that before they start selling electric cars that we have the stations in place," he said.

The Tampa area has been identified as an ideal growth spot for electric vehicles because of the large number of drivers with a daily commute of 50 miles or less.

Chevrolet announced that it will bring its Volt electric car to the region in September, project representatives said Wednesday. The Nissan Leaf is expected by the end of the year, its rollout delayed by the Japan tsunami.

The charging stations will allow drivers to use their vehicles longer without having to return home to recharge, said Keith Gruetzmacher, Tampa Electric Co.'s senior manager of marketing services.

"Basically that helps to reduce the range anxiety," he said.

The federal government has set a target of at least 1 million electric vehicles in service nationwide by 2015. About 80 percent of charging is expected to occur at homes and another 10 percent at the workplace, said Kenneth Hernandez, Tampa Electric's program manager for alternative fuel vehicles.

It is the remaining 10 percent of charging that these sites are intended to address.

The usage data from the stations installed under Project Get Ready will help government agencies and carmakers determine the preferences of electric car owners, Hernandez said.

"Part of what this project is going to do is help us understand if these predictions are accurate and how much these stations are used," he said.

Under the program, sponsored by a federal Department of Energy grant that covers the initial cost for each station, the charging points must be publicly accessible for at least 18 months.

The ones installed in Hillsborough County will be available by October and remain in operation until at least December 2013.

Each contains a 240-volt plug, which can charge a fully depleted electric vehicle battery in four to eight hours. A secondary 110-volt plug, the kind found in homes, is also available at the stations but requires a longer charging period.

Car owners will be able to use a website to locate the nearest available charging station. Initially, there will be no charge for their use, but service fees may eventually be added.

Tia Mitchell can be reached at tmitchell@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3405.