Roy Cooper visits the Charlotte electric car charging station

On Thursday, Charlotte unveiled in West Charlotte a charging station for new types of electric vehicles, a charging station created in partnership between the city, Duke Energy, the Central Regional Council and UNC Charlotte.

A charging station called PoleVolt uses existing street lights to charge electric cars for free.

The station is the last step in the state’s desire to increase the use of electric vehicles. North Carolina will soon receive $ 109 million from federal infrastructure, Gov. Roy Cooper said at a station on Beatty Ford Road.

Cooper said he expects competition in the market to push electric car prices, making them more affordable. According to reports, the average cost of an electric car is about $ 56,000 Kelly’s Blue Book.

“We need to make sure the infrastructure is charging here, so we’re ready for that,” he said. “And it should be in all our communities.”

In December, 4,221 electric vehicles were registered in Mecklenburg County and nearly 25,000 were registered nationwide, according to the NC Department of Transportation.

And as of July 2021, there were 2,554 charging ports in North Carolina, according to data collected by the Southern Clean Energy Alliance.

The software of the new charging station was developed with the help of UNC Charlotte students, including junior Philip Harman and senior classes of Grady Harwood.

The program began as a university project in October 2019, Harman and Harwood said. Now the project is on the streets of Charlotte. “It was nice to be the change you want to see in the world,” Harwood said.

Historic West End Charlotte

The new PoleVolt is located at the Ritz in Washington Heights at 1201 Beatties Ford Road.

It is important for the city to develop electric vehicle infrastructure in all areas, especially in underserved settlements, said Charlotte Mayor Wee Liles.

“Somehow this part of the city hasn’t gotten the economic opportunities that others have,” Liles said.

Building a strong infrastructure for electric vehicles is a key part of North Carolina’s clean transportation plan, Cooper said.

And that plan should include a focus on environmental justice, he added. “For too long we have left behind insufficient communities, colored communities, and we need to make sure that our actions in the climate arena take all this into account,” Cooper said.

Air quality

The new charging station is also a step forward in improving Charlotte’s air quality.

The 2018 Clean AIRE NC Air Quality Report found that residents of the historic West End, most of whom are black communities, are more likely to be exposed to toxic diesel fuel and pollution from facilities than residents of areas such as southern Charlotte., bulk white.

Diesel trucks drive continuously on highways that run through West Charlotte. And the area is dotted with more facilities and industrial sites that are allowed to emit pollution into the air than the whiter, richer south of Charlotte.

Neighborhood movement to control and improve air quality in West Charlotte conducted by researchers and residents.

National data confirms their previous research – colored people are 61% more likely to live in a county with harmful air than white people, according to the annual report of the American Lung Association “Air Condition”.

Ron Ross of the Historic West End Green District Air Quality Initiative said the PoleVolt station installation would “open up huge opportunities for this community and communities like ours,” potentially attracting new employers.

Ross and others hope to create a green area along the Beatty Ford Corridor. The charging station is a step in the right direction both to improve air quality and to open up new economic opportunities, he said.

“It is seriously changing the economic opportunities and upward movement in our community,” Ross said.

The “Observer” reporter Virgo Bose contributed to this article.