Williams College has installed a charging station on Spring Street for electric cars.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — David Richardson may never use the new electric car charging station at the bottom of Spring Street.

 

But he could not be happier that it is there.

 

"I live about 10 miles from campus, and my car, under ideal circumstances, gets a 40-mile range on a charge," Richardson, a chemistry professor at Williams College, said this week. "Unless I run errands, that fits most of the time in my charge boundaries.

 

"I applaud the town for being this forward looking to install this device, but I’d almost never use it. … But for colleagues or other folks coming into Williamstown with significantly larger driving distances, that’s exactly what they should be doing."

 

This week, a new Chargepoint electric car station debuted in the town parking lot. The facility, which was acquired by Williams College, is part of a network of more than 20,000 such Chargepoint stations throughout the United States and Canada.

 

The college wanted to put the first such station in town in a public location, explained Williams Vice President for Finance and Administration Fred Puddester.

 

"It's a convenience for people coming through," he said. "It's not just for college folks. It's not meant to be buried in a parking lot and had to find. We thought we'd make it visible, convenient for everyone."

 

The station, which can serve two cars simultaneously, is located near the entrance to the town lot. The two spaces beside the charging station will be marked "For Electric Vehicles Only," according to Town Manager Peter Fohlin.

 

The Williamstown site joins existing Chargepoint stations at the Fiegenbaum Center for Science and Innovation at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, Johnson Nissan in Pittsfield and the Big Y in Lee.

 

Like his colleague Richardson, Williamstown resident and biology professor Hank Art said he is much more likely to use the South County location than the Spring Street spot. But Art likewise is excited that electric car owners will be able to visit the Village Beautiful and find a place to recharge.

 

"The college has a lot of faculty and staff in the Connecticut River Valley," Art said. "Many have hybrid cars, but it seems to me electric cars are the way we’re heading. I’d like to see some of colleagues have the opportunity to drive their electric car from Northampton, Amherst or Greenfield and charge it here.

 

"To me, it would encourage electric vehicles in general and also serve the college."

 

Art drives both a hybrid, the Chevy Volt, which has a gasoline-powered electric turbine, and a Nissan Leaf, a true electric car that he can recharge in about four or five hours on a 240-volt line he installed in his garage.

 

He gets anywhere from 90 to 100 miles per charge on his Leaf battery -- less this time of year because of the impact of cold weather on battery life. He did the math when he acquired the car and found it cost about between 3 and 4 cents per mile to operate the electric vehicle.

 

"I would need to get 100 mpg [in a conventional car] to match what I was paying per mile," he said.

 

The charging station is the second in North Berkshire; MCLA installed one a couple years ago.

"With gas prices falling, people are probably not thinking as much as they were when it was hovering around $4 per gallon. … But $2.50 gas is not going to last very long. Enjoy it while it’s here, but five years from now, people won’t be enjoying that."

 

Besides the lower operating cost, electric car operators are motivated by a desire to lower their carbon footprints.

 

For Williams College, the Chargepoint station is part of a strategy that includes the recently built solar array on Simonds Road and a planned second co-generation plant to provide electricity on campus.  Art recently installed solar photovoltaic panels at his home through the Solarize Williamstown program. Chemistry professor Jay Thoman, who drives a Chevy Volt hybrid, is installing solar panels at his house in the spring.

 

"For me, in my situation, it’s a fabulous vehicle," Thoman said.

 

"Recharging time hasn’t been an issue for me because I don’t drive very far to work. I plug in to 110 volt regular wall current, and charging overnight more than does the trick. I can go back and forth to work several times on one charge."

 

And on longer trips — like to take his daughter to college in Northampton — Thoman uses one of several Chargepoint stations in that neck of the woods.

 

"I may have to burn a little gasoline to get there — less than a gallon," Thoman said.

 

Thoman said "followed the lead" of Richardson in deciding to lease a Volt.

 

Richardson said early adopters can help encourage the use of the technology. So can improvements that make batteries less expensive and more efficient.

 

"I’m not at all shy about telling people about this technology," Richardson said. "I feel like part of how we ensure it will develop is by having people be enthusiastic about it who will help push it forward. I've certainly talked a lot to friends and several of my friends have decided to go this way. I don’t know if I'm all that convincing. I'm sort of a cheerleader for electric vehicles in general.

 

"In some ways, personal computers went from being ridiculously expensive to toys that you can buy at Kmart. The improvements in battery technology will make these cars available for mass use."