History Made in Wayne County: First electric vehicle charging station installed for public use

                        
Two more reserved parking spaces were recently created in downtown Wooster. The newly designated spots are not allocated for elected officials, bank customers, or just one retail store, but for any visitors to downtown Wooster with one requirement – they charge their electric vehicle while parked. Thanks to the generous support of the Wayne County Sustainable Energy Network (WCSEN), the first public electric vehicle charging station in Wayne County was installed at Local Roots Market and Café. The level 2 fast charger will be available 24 hours a day and fills a void in the Ohio charging matrix. A visit to plugshare.com reveals a map of the country marked with public charging stations and until now there was a wide gap between cities in north-central Ohio where one can plug-in to increase their car’s charge. According to Barry Romich, Vice-President for the WCSEN, “One hour of charge will provide about 2.5 kilowatt hours of electricity and allow an electric vehicle to drive an additional 10 miles.” Electric vehicles in the area include both Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) and Battery-Only Electric Vehicles, the later depending on their charge from a plug-in outlet as the sole source of their power. Ohio’s American Electric Power (AEP) Green Energy Program provides wind-generated electricity and supports the installation of charging stations explaining, “electric cars or plug-in electric vehicles can help us achieve energy independence, cleaner air and a revitalized auto industry.” They even speculate that there could be a million PHEVs on the road by 2015. Fred Michel, President of WCSEN and Associate Professor of Biosystems Engineering at The Ohio State University said, "The reason WCSEN installed the chargers is that the Lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions for an electric car charged with wind sourced electricity are approximately 4 g CO2 per mile, while an electric car charged with Ohio's grid electricity, which is mostly from coal, is approximately 250 g CO2 per mile. A conventional gasoline vehicle emits 450 g CO2 per mile or more than 100 times more CO2 per mile than a wind electricity charged electric vehicle." The charger located on the east side of the Local Roots Market and Cafe building is a wind energy supplied station, so in addition to selling produce, the progressive business will now sell wind energy. The price to charge will be initially set at $1/hour or donation. Betsy Anderson, one of the founding members of Local Roots, said they have partnered with the WCSEN right from the beginning and explained, “Although we focus on local agriculture, promoting sustainable living is part of our greater vision. This is one of the projects we have been talking about for over four years and are thrilled to see it realized. Electric car charging stations have been available to the public in large cities and now we are proud to provide this service in Wooster.” When WCSEN treasurer Lyn Emerson pulled her Chevy Volt up to one of the two designated parking spots to receive the first charge, she found two McClintock Electric employees completing the installation and said, “(they) were as proud a s peacocks to have installed the first public plug-in charger in Wooster. They felt as though they were part of history in the making to have done this job.”


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