Sierra Club announces free electric vehicle charging station in downtown Boise
The Idaho chapter of the Sierra Club is opening a free electric vehicle charging station in downtown Boise, and encouraging other businesses and government offices downtown to do the same. “For a business, it’s a fairly simple and inexpensive perk that they could give for their employees, to put in a couple of charging stations,” said Harold Orien, chapter president.
The Sierra Club’s station, located at its downtown office at 503 W. Franklin St., will officially open tomorrow, when an 11 a.m. press conference is planned, but it’s already up and running. There’s just one charging station, and most cars are expected to need to charge for about two hours, so it likely will be able to accommodate up to five vehicles a day. There’s no charge for using the station. “We are going to allow anyone that wants to use it to simply register and come in,” Orien said. “We’re just trying to encourage overall the usage of electric vehicles and charging stations.”
He noted that the station is near the state Capitol, City Hall, and downtown shops, restaurants and offices. The club hopes to encourage people to use electric cars for commuting to work and when visiting downtown businesses or attractions, to reduce pollution caused by gas-burning vehicles.
The Sierra Club’s charging station will work for all brands and models of electric vehicle. Most take two to three hours for a 50 percent charge; Orien said the idea is to charge the cars back up to where they were before the trip downtown, so they can make the return trip on electric power. “We’re going to monitor the usage of it and then add more stations as needed,” he said. For more information, call the Sierra Club at 384-1023.