Wayne county adds EV charging station

By OWEN WALSH
Posted 2/19/20

HONESDALE, PA — With temperatures right around 20 degrees Fahrenheit, Wayne County officials wasted no time completing the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the area’s newest electric vehicle …

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Wayne county adds EV charging station

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HONESDALE, PA — With temperatures right around 20 degrees Fahrenheit, Wayne County officials wasted no time completing the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the area’s newest electric vehicle (EV) charging station on Friday, February 14 before retreating back inside the Stourbridge Project building.

Members of Sustainable Energy Education and Development Support (SEEDS) approached the Wayne County Commissioners with the idea of installing the charging station at Stourbridge about a year ago. Commissioner Brian Smith said the beauty of the location is that it will allow people working at the Park Street Complex as well as visitors of Wayne Memorial Hospital to charge their electric cars there.

“It’s a good thing,” Smith said. “The more we push alternative energy, the more we have to acknowledge it’ll drive the price of our traditional energies down.”

Commissioner Joe Adams said the installation was mostly funded through the Volkswagen Clean Air Act civil settlement. As a result of selling vehicles equipped with “computer software designed to cheat on federal emissions tests,” the car company’s settlement required it to invest $2 billion in zero-emission vehicle infrastructure.

“We’re extremely proud and honored to be able to have a facility like [Stourbridge] with a charging station, that opens up an entire new group of people to come to our community, and hopefully stay here,” Adams said.

Commissioner Jocelyn Cramer owns an electric hybrid herself, and advocated for its efficiency, saying hers gets 60 miles to the gallon. She also pointed out that some Tesla-driving members of SEEDS can go around 325 miles before needing to recharge. She said that getting on an app called ChargePoint, which shows users where charging stations are located, will bring more people to Wayne County.

“You literally go [to ChargePoint] and say, ‘Where do I want to spend my day or my weekend?’ so they’re shopping here, they’re eating at our restaurants and they’re falling in love with Wayne County,” she said.

The commissioners thanked PA Senate and House representatives Sen. Lisa Baker and Reps. Jonathan Smith and Michael Peifer for helping the county secure the necessary funding through the Department of Environment Protection EV charging rebate program. Baker thanked Wayne County for being “forward thinking” and “looking to the future.”

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