CHARGING FORWARD

posted on Monday, November 23, 2020 in Company News

WAVERLY, Iowa (November 23, 2020) – Waverly’s first electric vehicle (EV) charging station is up and running, thanks to an Iowa DOT grant. Located in the city parking lot behind Cobblestone Hotel, the station services two vehicles at a time and is part of a campaign to encourage visitors from out of town to stop and shop Waverly.

“This was a win-win situation,” said Curt Atkins, Director, Operations . “This is technology that not every community has yet, plus it’s also a nice amenity for Waverly that didn’t cost rate-payers anything.”

The EV station is part of a unique lawsuit resulting from the 2016 Volkswagen emission settlement. After admitting to cheating on emissions controls, VW was required to pay $2 billion towards creating a national infrastructure to support electric vehicles throughout the U.S.

Iowa created a grant program that combines distributing the funds with a tourism focus for smaller towns. Charging station funds were granted to communities near major highways that selected a location within easy walking distance of local shops and restaurants. The ultimate goal is that visitors will dine and shop downtown while their vehicle charges.

Visitors use their Chargepoint app to discover where charging stations are located. Most electric vehicles can go approximately 300-400 miles on a full charge, so EV owners often spend extra time planning out routes that allow them to access charging stations en route.

Waverly installed a Level 2 charging station, which can charge between 20-70 miles per hour, depending on the vehicle battery. The cost is $1 per session, plus $0.11 per kilowatt hour.

The station is open to the public.

“We applied for the grant 3 times before we got it,” shared Atkins. “But we knew it would be a great way to attract visitors to our community. The fact that it didn’t use rate-payer dollars is icing on the cake.”