Boulder is banking on a future in which drivers hit the roads in zero-emission electric vehicles.
On Wednesday, the city began catering to that vision with the installation of the first two public electric vehicle charging stations.
At a total cost of $31,000, the stations were installed at the South Boulder Recreation Center parking lot. On Monday, the stations will be switched on and made available for drivers of plug-in cars to rent for $1 per hour.
The stations will cost the city about 90 cents per hour to operate, but because the city can't legally re-sell electricity, it will instead charge a $1 "service fee" to rent a radio frequency card that operates one of the stations.
"(Recreation center users) can just come up to the service desk there and request a card," said Joe Castro, Boulder's facility and fleet manager.
Castro said the two stations have the ability to charge up to four vehicles at the same time, and include both 240-volt and 110-volt hookups.
By June 2012, Castro said he expects to have 40 charging stations installed throughout Boulder. Some of the planned station locations include the Boulder Public Library, the Pearl Street Mall, the Boulder County Courthouse, the Boulder Municipal Building and city-owned parking garages downtown.
Half of the stations will service city-owned vehicles, while the other half will be available to the public to charge personal vehicles.
Each station costs about $3,500 for the charger and about $12,000 for electrical hookups.
Boulder is paying for the equipment though a $500,000 federal grant that was secured with the help of U.S. Rep. Jared Polis. The Boulder Democrat is scheduled to appear at the South Boulder Recreation Center on Monday to christen the first charging stations.
It's still not clear how widely used the stations will be for the first few years, as the rollout of plug-in electric vehicles continues to be slow.
Nationwide, there are an estimated 3,000 electric vehicles on the roads. But Castro said he thinks the number of plug-ins in Boulder will begin to increase soon.
"The anticipation now is that in 2012, there will be 100 to 300 EV vehicles in the Boulder area," he said.
Boulder has been working with Ford to make its electric vehicles available at area dealerships.
To help entice customers to buy one of the forthcoming Ford Focus Electric vehicles, the automaker announced Wednesday that it would begin partnering with SunPower to offer consumers high-efficiency rooftop solar systems to offset all of the energy used to charge a Focus.
The companies will offer the systems at a cost of less than $10,000, after federal tax credits. Local rebates may bring the cost of the 2.5-kilowatt system even lower.
Mike Tinskey, Ford's manager of sustainability activities, said the program is sure to appeal to customers in Boulder -- which accounts for about 21 percent of all solar systems installed through Xcel Energy's Solar Rewards program.
"This is going to be a great product because EV customers have been asking us for a green solution," he said.
He said the Boulder market should begin to see more Ford electric vehicles available in showrooms by early 2012.
Seth Masia, deputy editor of Solar Today magazine, said he thinks that car dealers will eventually figure out that loans for cars and solar charging systems can be packaged together.
"I think you'll see mechanisms like that emerging," he said.
In addition to Ford's new lineup of electric models, Toyota plans to release the Toyota RAV4 EV in 2012. The RAV4 will run on a lithium-ion battery pack and is expected to run 100 miles on a single charge.
The 2012 Nissan LEAF has a range of 100 miles per charge and can go 90 mph on the freeway.
General Motors, meanwhile, has increased production on its 2012 Chevy Volt.
Contact Camera Staff Writer Heath Urie at 303-473-1328 or urieh@dailycamera.com.
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