A mobile app allows users to check availability and arrange to receive a text message when vehicles are fully charged and need to be moved.
Owners of electric vehicles can now recharge their car batteries immediately behind the McMichael Science Center using a newly installed ChargePoint Electric Vehicle station.
The station is accessible to any member of the Elon community with an EV and ChargePoint account. Drivers pull up to one of two available parking spaces in front of the station, swipe their credit card to release the plug, and then plug in to charge.
To stop, customers swipe their card again and hang up the plug. Mobile apps help users to locate stations around the nation, check availability and arrange to receive a text message when vehicles are fully charged and need to be moved.
The growing number of electric vehicles on American roads helps cut down on carbon emissions from car emissions. Carbon dioxide pollution from electricity is less than carbon dioxide pollution from using oil to power a conventional car.
According to the company website, ChargePoint stations dispense electricity each year equivalent to 3 million gallons of gas. Its stations also avoid 43 million pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere, and in locations where electricity is generated with renewable resources, driving an electric vehicle has an even greater positive impact on emission reductions.
Jan Pagoria, director of internships in the Love School of Business, owns an electric vehicle and makes a daily 110-mile round-trip commute using just over one gallon of gas.
“I believe that taking this step demonstrates, once again, just how much of a leadership role Elon plays in the local and global community,” she said.