The communities in Western Massachusetts received state grants and will own the stations.
A Nissan Leaf charges in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)BOSTON -- Gov. Deval Patrick's environmental secretary on Friday unveiled plans to install 105 charging stations for electric vehicles in 25 cities and towns around the state including units for Greenfield, Holyoke, Lenox, Northampton and Orange.
Richard K. Sullivan Jr. of Westfield, secretary of energy and environmental affairs, said it will be the state's first widespread installation of charging stations, which look something like parking meters. Sullivan said installation will begin immediately. Boston has already installed three charging stations in the downtown area.
Richard SullivanAccording to Sullivan, two stations will be installed in Greenfield at Greenfield Community College and at the Miles Street parking lot; two at the Holyoke Mall; four in Northampton, including two at the John Gare parking garage, one at the Round House parking lot behind Pulaski Park and one at the lot for the city's main fire station. The station in Orange will be at the Riverfront Park.
"It's a start of the energy revolution," Sullivan said. "It's exciting."
The stations are for plug-in hybrids, extended range electric vehicles such as the Chevrolet Volt, or fully electric vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf.
Anne Smith, a spokeswoman for Coulomb Technologies of Campbell, Calif., which is using a federal stimulus grant to provide charging stations to cities and towns outside of Western Massachusetts, said a typical charging session would cost $1.50 to $2. A dead battery would take up to four hours to charge. People will be able to use their smart phones to track the progress of a charge and use a credit card to pay for the charge, she said.
She said all the stations would be installed by the end of the year.
The communities in Western Massachusetts received grants from the state Department of Energy Resources and will own the stations, said Lisa Capone, a spokeswoman for Sullivan. The state financed those stations with $280,000 from a settlement obtained by the state attorney general in 2007 for alleged pollution control equipment violations by an Ohio-based power plant.
The program will create jobs for electricians, and is an important step in helping communities, residents and business across the state shift to cleaner driving as the state prepares for the entry of new models of electric vehicles, according to Sullivan. The stations will also help reduce pollution from greenhouse gases, he said.