St. Paul, Minneapolis launch first five of 70 electric car-sharing hubs
Twin Cities Pioneer Press
2/2/2022
© Provided by Twin Cities Pioneer Press
A Chevrolet Bolt is pictured at an EV Spot charging station in St. Paul. The cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis launched the EV Spot Network Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022. EV Spot is a system of renewably powered on-street stations that can be used to charge private electric vehicles as well as the new Evie Carshare vehicles. (Courtesy of Sam Holt)
St. Paul and Minneapolis have unveiled their first five electric car-sharing hubs in the Twin Cities, an opening bell of sorts for the joint 70-station EV Spot network.
The $12 million network can be used to charge private electric vehicles and the new Evie Carshare vehicles from HourCar, a St. Paul-based nonprofit.
“Five are up and running as of today,” Russ Stark, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s chief resilience officer, said Wednesday. “Others are installed and it’s just a process of getting them up and ready, and more will be installed in the months to come. We are going to have a bigger launch event in May.”
HourCar members can reserve EV Spots curbside within a 35-square-mile service area in St. Paul and Minneapolis. Each EV Spot charging location has two dedicated parking spaces for personal vehicles and two spaces for Evies.
The network’s first five stations went live Wednesday with EV Spots in St. Paul at Sherburne Avenue and Dale Street in Frogtown, and at Margaret and East Seventh streets in Dayton’s Bluff. Minneapolis locations include Colfax and Hennepin avenues, Chicago and Franklin avenues, and 13th Avenue and Fourth Street Southeast.
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By the time all 70 EV Spot charging locations go live this fall, the number of public charging ports in the Twin Cities will have increased by 50 percent. A map of all 70 locations can be found online at tinyurl.com/5ffhf8x3.
St. Paul’s application for an EV Spot network was one of 25 winning entries in the 2018 Bloomberg Philanthropies American Cities Climate Challenge, which aims to curb greenhouse gas emissions related to two of the largest users of nonrenewable energy — transportation and buildings.
The all-electric car-sharing network is considered the nation’s largest publicly owned electric vehicle initiative, and relies on renewable infrastructure provided by Xcel Energy, as well as a car-share fleet of more than 100 electric HourCar vehicles leased by St. Paul under a five-year contract, which will grow to more than 170 vehicles by the end of the summer.
The rate structure includes a low-income plan for those who qualify, and full-price options are approximately half the cost of what other one-way car-share services charge elsewhere in the U.S., according to a joint written statement from St. Paul Public Works and Minneapolis Public Works.
Rollout of the EV Spot network was delayed last year following a recall of Chevy Bolts.
For more information, visit EVSpotNetwork.com.
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