Southeast MN getting charged up about electric vehicles!

Connecting to the for-profit network that sells credit card services to collect EV charging fees can be several thousand dollars more a year than the value of electricity sold. To keep these costs down, local businesses in Red Wing who see this as a tourism and PR opportunity are paying for the electricity, and the project team designed a clever system using the EV owner’s smart phone to start the charger.

Red Wing’s part-time Sustainability Coordinator, Paul Drotos, indicated that “though the CERTs Seed Grants are small, this one helped us to gain momentum in the community and contributed to the acceptance of the project."

Read a news story about the new EV charger and see a video and photos of the project below.

Early 2018 saw the start of the Cities Charging Ahead! initiative for Minnesota GreenStep Cities. Facilitated by The Great Plains Institute and CERTs, a Southeastern Minnesota cohort including Red Wing, Rochester, Faribault, Winona, and Albert Lea has been meeting in person to share experience and knowledge.

Each of the cities is working to advance EV goals under the GSC voluntary recognition program. Diana McKeown, the group's facilitator, feels that the Southeast group is “the MOST engaged cohort in the state.” She suggests that the open information sharing is helping them “work together to overcome barriers.”

1. Rochester: Rochester’s Destination Medical Center (DMC) Energy and Sustainability Director, Kevin Bright, said that the “public-private partnership in Red Wing between the City and downtown business community is a great model for Rochester to potentially replicate in expanding its own EV infrastucture." Rochester Public Utilities, which owns the largest number of EV chargers among the participating cities, has shared cost, usage, and maintenance tips with the smaller participants to help them in decision making. This includes grappling with the decisions about whether and how much to charge for electricity. Kevin Bright also presented on the incorporation of sustainability in planning to the benefit of several other participants who are currently revising their comprehensive plans.
2. Winona & Faribault: Some tangible benefits to Winona and Faribault were the awards from Xcel Energy of FleetCarma studies worth some $13,000 each. This allowed the recipients to study usage of their city fleets with an eye towards cost-effective EV adoption. John Howard, Winona’s Sustainability Coordinator said the study “will help us cut down our fuel usage, thereby saving the city money and reducing total air emissions.”
3. Red Wing: Red Wing’s Paul Drotos said that “collaboration and camaraderie” in problem solving were the greatest benefit to participation. Red Wing’s Bill Gehn shared his technical expertise with all the participating cities, and is given credit by the Winona Bluff Country Coop for their installation this summer of a Level II EV Charger.

Learn more about Cities Charging Ahead!