Tesla charging at King Arthur’s Flour’s 9.45 kW charging station. Photo courtesy King Arthur’s Flour.
G.E.T. Staff
Now those of us who drive electric vehicles (EVs) have an extra benefit when visiting the King Arthur Flour location in Norwich, Vermont. King Arthur Flour and Green Mountain Power have teamed up to provide visitors an EV charging station.
Green Mountain Power’s vice president for generation and energy innovation, Steve Costello, has supported EVs with the note that in Vermont, 47% of carbon emissions come from vehicles. If we are to reduce our global warming gasses, we will have to address the problem of releasing these greenhouse gasses, and switching to EVs is an obvious way to do that.
For their part, the leaders of King Arthur Flour have long since declared their position on social and environmental responsibility by registering as a Vermont Benefit Corporation, or B-Corp. They believe that by making a charging station available, they are helping people move away from fossil fuel use and toward a healthier world.
One of the really great things about this particular charging station is that it is provided with electric from solar PVs in a 9.54 kW net-metered system. Electricity from the PVs that is not used to provide power for EVs will go on the grid for use elsewhere. Another implication is that the sun need not be shining for cars to plug in.
The system was installed by Same Sun of Vermont. The array of PVs is ground-mounted, installed on three poles, each holding a dozen solar panels. The $51,900 system was built with the aid of a grant of $17,500 from Green Mountain Power.
At the time the charging station was opened, there were only 282 EVs registered in Vermont, but the number had grown 220% in the previous year. Considering the rate of growth, it is highly likely that the charging station will be used quite a lot, very soon.
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