The City of Augusta partnered with Georgia Power, Thursday afternoon, to hold a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Municipal Building on Telfair Street, commemorating the installation of the city’s first electric vehicle (EV) charging station.
Mayor Garnett Johnson, District 9 Commissioner Francine Scott, and staff of the Central Services Department were among those who attended the celebration.
The charging station, in the Municipal Building parking lot, costs $2 per hour to use, plus an additional 14 cents per kilowatt hour.
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The new vehicle charger is part of Green Augusta, a budget neutral initiative toward green and energy efficient improvements in the city, primarily via transitioning some of the vehicles in the city’s non-emergency light duty fleet to greener models.
“This partnership further underscores Augusta’s commitment to being environmentally friendly,” said the city’s Interim Administrator Takiyah Douse, who presented the Green Augusta concept to former county administrator Odie Donald and the Augusta Commission in 2019, back when she was Central Services director.
In 2022, the Augusta Commission approved the Trane Inc. Energy Savings Performance Contract, a $25 million budget neutral agreement with the company to upgrade the city’s energy systems.
Georgia Power assisted with that commitment by approving Augusta’s application for the company’s Make Ready Program, which includes a $42,000 grant toward funding the infrastructure for the charger.
Kerry Bridges, regional executive with Georgia Power, stressed the effect of advancing improvements to the electric grid, and economic development efforts to bring EV tech, through partnerships with manufacturers and parts suppliers in the region, such as Rivian and Hyundai.
“We’re committed to this,” said Bridges. “We certainly recognize the significant impact that it makes in this community, the fact that we have we have this charging infrastructure right here, available right in the heart of the city.”
The performance contract with Trane is also to entail new solar panels in the Municipal Building parking lot, currently under construction, and two new city-owned charging stations, though Douse would not disclose their locations, saying they may change in planning.
The city held a similar ceremony in the fall of 2021 for an EV charging station at Diamond Lakes Park, installed through a partnership with Jefferson Energy Cooperative. Though it’s on city property, that charging station is not owned by Augusta.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
