White Plains Adds Electric Vehicle Chargers to Public Parking Garages
Last week was national Drive Electric Week and in honor of the energy-saving and green theme White Plains rolled out 10 new electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at pubic parking garages around the city, bringing the White Plains’ total to 20 stations.
White Plains was one of the first municipalities in Westchester County to install electric vehicle charging stations in early 2012. At that time, the original 10 stations were geared toward commuters and are located adjacent to the White Plains TransCenter Garage.
The 10 new EV charging stations are located at Lexington-Grove East Garage (Galleria East), 100 Main Street – 3 chargers; Hamilton-Main Garage, 365 Hamilton Avenue – 3 chargers; Longview-Cromwell Garage, 11 Longview Avenue -2 chargers; and Lyon Place Garage, 1 Lyon Place – 2 chargers.
The new charging stations were supported and installed by the New York Power Authority (NYPA) and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). They support Charge NY, a statewide initiative launched by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to help bring about greater use of plug-in EVs.
Each station is capable of supplying up to 6 kilowatts of power to an electric vehicle. Charge times will vary depending on the size and type of car, but for mid-sized cars (e.g., the Chevrolet Volt, Ford C-MAX Hybrid Energi or Nissan Leaf), charging is expected to take approximately four hours.
To utilize a charging station, customers should download the free ‘EV Connect’ app. This will activate the charging station and allow the customer to monitor the charging process remotely. Once the app has been activated, the customer pays $1.50/hour, which covers both parking and electricity, through the normal payment process at the garage pay stations. The software also collects and transmits data on frequency of use, length of charges and amount of energy dispensed, to provide NYPA and NYSERDA input for use in locating future charging infrastructure.
