The University of Virginia’s Department of Parking & Transportation and Facilities Management have partnered with Kyle Smalkowski, a fourth-year student in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, to install a new level-two EV charger, the first of it’s kind in the Charlottesville area, at the University’s Central Grounds Parking Garage at 400 Emmet Street in Charlottesville. The University is set to open the station, which was funded by grants from the Parents Committee and Student Council’s Green Initiatives Funding Tomorrow program, at an event on Friday, April 26th at 10 a.m. on the second level of the parking garage.
The charging station, located next to the elevators in the garage, will be available for University visitors with electric vehicles. The station will be able to charge one electric vehicle at a time and each customer is limited to four hours. The station will pull approximately 7.2 kilowatts from the garage’s grid, which will be partially offset by a solar panel array that Facilities Management installed on the roof. The solar array will feed electricity into the garage’s electric grid.
Michael Phillips, who heads up VCC’s electric vehicle initiatives, will be on hand to provide remarks at the opening. “As of this month, the commonwealth of Virginia currently has 2,006 registered electric vehicles,” Phillips said. “This is a substantial increase of around 700 percent from just one year ago.” Michael will be joining Allen Groves, UVA associate vice president and dean of students; and Smalkowski to celebrate the opening. Mr. Groves will be performing the first official plug-in as part of the festivities.
For more information about the charging station and this opening event, contact Michael Phillips at 434-760-4485 or mphillips@vacleancities.org.