Businesses sought for electric vehicle charging stations

Flathead Electrical Cooperative is looking for local businesses interested in enter into a cost-sharing agreement to host vehicle charging stations for employee use.

The cooperative hopes that providing ease of access to these charging stations will make owning an electric vehicle more appealing for area residents, said Wade Harris, a research analyst with the local power company.

The co-op recently installed a charging station outside their building in Evergreen, and soon after three employees purchased electric cars, Harris said. Charging an electric car outside the cooperative is currently free, but potential workplace hosts would have an option to adjust the charging station to generate additional income or make it free for employees.

The cooperative is hoping additional charging stations will help them collect data about how many electric cars are being used in the valley and how many more the electric grid can handle.

“What we are actually trying to do is look at it as a test at this point,” Harris said. “What kind of adoption rate are we seeing? What kind of energy is being consumed in our valley from cars that are here, and what does their load profile look like? What do our rates need to look like to incentivize consumers to consume at off-peak hours?”

Placing the charging stations at workplaces is a concerted effort to direct the program toward local residents over tourists, Harris said. Charging stations at hotels might be helpful for people from out of town, but rarely benefits locals. He also said they were interested in installing the stations in new construction projects, noting that it is cheaper than putting them in already developed plots.

“Workplace charging is for locals, it’s not for the traveler,” Harris added.

While the co-op won’t do anything to discourage tourist use, he said they were interested in how they can convert the valley’s normal consumption of fossil fuels into electrical use. Harris acknowledged that as an electric company they were interested in encouraging people to buy electricity over other resources, but he felt confident their vision for the future boded well for the future of the Flathead Valley as well.

“Our approach is we are trying to prepare ourselves for the inevitable change in transportation from oil-based transportation to electric-based transportation, because we sell electric energy,” Harris said. “This comes along — and by the way its super efficient — and we don’t have to build a capacity to manage it because our capacity is already built.”

Harris said cars can be charged in off-peak hours when there is plenty of electrical capacity to spare. That’s a big reason they feel they can roll it into the electrical grid with ease.

“It’s the perfect storm of opportunity and situation for us to say hey, we have cheap power from a renewable resource,” he said.

A form for businesses that might be interested in hosting a charging station is now available online. Visit the cooperative’s website at www.flatheadelectric.com. An interactive map with all the current charging stations in the valley can be found at www.plugshare.com.

Reporter Peregrine Frissell can be reached at (406) 758-4438 or pfrissell@dailyinterlake.com.