Two New Electric Car Charging Stations in Marlinton

Cara Rose, Director of the Pocahontas County Convention and Visitors Bureau talks with us about the two new electric car charging stations at the Depot in Marlinton.

Cara, can you tell us about these two new electric car charging stations?

The Depot (Fourth Avenue Gallery) in Marlinton. Electric Car charges on Right Building

“Yes, Tim, I am happy to report that we now have two electric car charging stations installed in Marlinton,” said Rose. “They are located at the Depot -the Fourth Avenue Gallery on Fourth Avenue. These charging stations were generously donated by the West Virginia Electric Auto Association and Pickering and Associates, which is an engineering firm here in West Virginia.”

“This is a great asset to add to our community, a lot of visitors and even a few residents have electric cars today. And, these electric cars are becoming more popular throughout the U.S. and the world, and even here in Pocahontas County. So, I am really pleased that we are able to add that amenity for folks that are traveling through Pocahontas County. It is also a great opportunity if other communities in the county are interested in charging stations. They can contact me and I am more than happy to put them in touch with the generous donors who have made it possible to get these charging stations in town.”

Close up of the chargers

“People ask all the time, ‘how much does it cost.?’ The average cost to charge an electric vehicle is eighty cents to a dollar-twenty ($0.80 to $1.20) -roughly a dollar per hour. And our intention is to ask those who use the charging station to make a donation of a dollar per hour, based on how much time they actually charge their cars. These electric charging stations are universal as well, so they can be used by any electric vehicle, whether they are a hundred percent electric or a hybrid. They can be Tesla’s or they can be a GM product. Whatever electric vehicle visitors have, or residents have, they will be able to use those charging stations. The people who live here in the county, generally speaking, charge theirs at home, but if you find yourself in a bind you can certainly charge. But the vast majority of users of these charging stations will be visitors -people travailing through the county.”

“You might ask ‘how do people find the charging stations?’ there are phone apps that people who have electric cars can download and identify on maps where these charging stations are. I am working now to make sure we populate a few of those apps. But I do know that Marlinton is already on ‘Plug Share.’  That’s one of the apps that’s very well known and commonly used. So, it is on the map out there for those electric car travelers, and it really does bode well for our communities when we are able to offer these amenities. And, certainly we will have many more users as the electric car industry grows.”

“There are electric car chargers at the Green Bank Observatory and also at Snowshoe.”

If you have tourists that have electric cars, they are going to need to have a way (to charge them) or they are not going to come here.

“Right, they won’t come here, exactly. The very first day after they were installed, when the Gallery clerks came in that morning, there were two cars parked there using them. So, there is a way to find them and for sure, people will need them, especially when you look at information such as GM who is really putting a big push on designing a wide array of electric vehicles. More and more people are going to be purchasing them, which means the costs of those cars will be going down, and hence, more people will be buying them.”