Clinton to get additional EV chargers

By Randy Bell

     A plan to install Clinton’s first public charging stations for electric vehicles has been expanded to three additional locations.  Originally, the 240-volt Level 2 chargers were to go to the Clinton Visitor Center and Olde Towne Depot.  But the Board of Aldermen voted May 6 to execute an agreement which calls for a total of five locations, also including Traceway Park, Brighton Park and Kids Towne Park.

     “After doing the first evaluation at the Clinton Visitor Center and at the Depot, it was determined how many chargers can be placed where,” says Tison Reno, Manager of Products and Services Deployment with Entergy Mississippi.  “And with the funding that’s available, there was enough funding to go ahead and expand to additional locations [at] our local parks.”

     The chargers are being installed at no cost to the City through a partnership involving Entergy Mississippi and the non-profit organization Adopt a Charger.  The location at Traceway will be equipped to charge as many as four vehicles at a time.  The other charging stations will be capable of handling two vehicles simultaneously.

     EV owners in Clinton should soon be able to hook up to the public chargers.

     We’ll get to working with local electricians to go ahead and get the project started,” Reno says. “It’s going to be weather dependent, but, hopefully, over the coming months, we’ll get those operational.”

     Adopt a Charger says its first three public EV charging locations in Mississippi included two on the Hinds Community College campus in Raymond, at the Eagle Ridge Conference Center and the Student Union.  Also, there’s a charging station at the Mississippi Children’s Museum in Jackson.

     Two neighboring states have also embraced the technology.  Arkansas has sixteen Adopt a Charger stations, in Little Rock, Pine Bluff, Hot Springs and nine other cities.  In Louisiana, there are eight of the charging stations in Slidell, Abita Springs, Mandeville and Madisonville.