News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
By the end of September, nine electric car charging stations will be available across the Upper Cumberland.
The project is part of a three-year Tennessee Tech study to research how electric vehicles could be the new future of transportation in rural communities. Mechanical Engineer Assistant Professor Pingen Chen said Carthage, Livingston, Sparta, Spencer, and Byrdstown will have electric car hookups installed.
“If you look at the charging stations that we are developing, if you connect the dots of all the charging stations, it will be very comprehensive and the electric vehicle users will be able to find charging stations nearby within 20 to 30 minutes,” Chen said. “They don’t have to worry about the electric vehicle running out of battery.”
Chen said there are already charging stations in Cookeville and Lafayette in Macon County. He said after all stations are installed, three electric vehicles will be given to UCHRA to test transportation practicality: a Nissan Leaf, an EV pickup truck, and a EV shuttle bus.
This project is one of the first of its kind. Chen said this is an important study because 97 percent of the United states are rural areas and contains 20 percent of the population. He said two main drawbacks why electric vehicles have not become more practical is due to a lack of knowledge and awareness.
“Electric vehicles can bring a lot of benefits over a conventional vehicle,” Chen said. “Including the low fuel cost, low operational cost, and that can bring the ownership down in the long term. A lot of EV benefit has not been brought to the rural areas.”
Eight of the charging stations will be Level 2 which can charge a an electric vehicle up to 75 percent in about 45 minutes. A fast charging station is already installed on the Tennessee Tech campus.
The U.S Department of Energy, UCHRA, Lyft, Nissan North America, University of Texas at Austin, Clean Coal Coalition, and other corporations are in partnership with the project.
