Salisbury Transit Depot welcomes new EV charging station

The City of Salisbury was recently awarded a $10,000 grant from Duke Energy for a public electric vehicle (EV) charging station that will be located in the Gateway Park, 105 Depot Street.

A ribbon-cutting for the EV charging station will take place Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 3 p.m., Gateway Park on Depot Street.

The Salisbury charging station is one of Duke Energy's 200 public charging stations that are being installed around North Carolina. The $10,000 grant funded the installation of a dual-port charging station in Salisbury, allowing two electric vehicles to be charged at once.

“For many years, planning and community development aspired to provide a charging station in our downtown,” said Deborah Young, Salisbury special projects manager. "There were numerous sites identified as viable options for placement of the station, but after review of the grant criteria associated with location to major highways, restaurants, shopping and 24/7 access it was decided that the Depot lot was the best fit.”

“The City of Salisbury is proud to partner with Duke Energy to introduce this charging station,” said Lane Bailey, city manager. “Sustainability is what we strive for as a community."

This will be the second charging station located in Salisbury. In 2015, Salisbury’s first EV charging station was unveiled on the 100 block of South Lee Street. The charging station was a joint effort between Nissan, the Wallace Family, and Brightfield Transportation.

Duke Energy's EV Charging Infrastructure Support Project provided $1 million to help cities and towns develop public charging stations for residents. Duke Energy will pay 100 percent of the installation costs under the program.

"Over the past decade, Duke Energy has supported the development of several hundred electric vehicle charging stations in North Carolina," said David Fountain, Duke Energy's North Carolina president. "Adoption of EVs depends on a robust infrastructure for consumers.”

Duke Energy has been active in building public charging stations at parking decks, libraries and shopping areas. According to Advanced Energy, an independent, nonprofit organization, there are about 4,700 registered plug-in EVs and about 700 public charging ports spread out around North Carolina.