With One Installed, More Electric Charging Stations Possibly Coming To Muskegon

Andrew Trzaska | March 22, 2011

After an electric car charging station was installed at the Grand Valley State University’s MAREC facility on Muskegon Lake and the City of Muskegon worked out a deal with ChargePoint America to install several stations downtown, the County is looking at installing stations at several of its buildings as well.

The County Commission voted Tuesday on recommendation from its Community Development committee to apply for funding from the Clean Energy Coalition to install charging stations at the Kobza Hall of Justice and the nearby South Campus as well.

If the application gets approved, the multiple stations would be installed using $15,546 from the Clean Energy Fund, with the County putting up $7,728 of matching dollars.  Those funds would come from two funds: the Hall of Justice building fund and the John Halmond building fund.

The board voted unanimously to apply for the funds, but some public voices informed the County of their opposition to the idea.  Eric Rothoff spoke to the Community Development committee last Thursday saying that pursuing these stations may be premature.
Rothoff noted that with quick technology advancements that the stations may quickly become outdated.  Plus, he noted that most electric car users would likely charge their vehicles at home and therefore these stations would not see much use.

No word was immediately available as to when the stations could be fully installed. Putting them into service is contingent on receiving the funds from the Clean Energy Coalition.

Similar ChargePoint stations available at MAREC and soon to be available downtown allows for free recharging currently. Future assessment of charges will be investigated by MAREC by the City of Muskegon after the stations have been in use for an extended period of time.

Full charges at those stations take four to eight hours.