The City of East Point, Ga. Electric Department worked with Walmart and Electrify America to provide power to eight charging stations installed at a Walmart in the city, which marks the second charging station project that the public power community has pursued.
Shawn Dowe, Electric Director for the City of East Point, said that the Electrify America and Walmart agreement was first presented to East Point in August 2019 and completed in August of 2020. Various Walmart’s across the country were adding charging stations as a green initiative and East Point was one of few selected, he noted.
When asked to provide additional details about how East Point's Electric Department worked with Electrify America and Walmart to provide power to the charging stations, Dowe said it was a full collaborative effort on the part of East Point Power and the team at Electrify America.
“From design and customer market studies, both teams worked together to come up with ideas that would serve the community best. Planning and Zoning aided in getting permits secured and approved. It really was a great collaborative effort that came together in record time seamlessly,” he noted in an email.
Lisa Persons is the Project Manager and Todd Hicks is the Superintendent for East Point Power.
Persons was lead liaison between East Point, Electrify America, and Walmart. Her responsibilities included meeting with Electrify America for design concepts, walking the team through the entire permitting process, account set up, customer pricing and all administrative issues pertaining to the project.
For Hicks, his responsibilities were on the operational side of the project. Hicks was in charge of leading the construction and installation of getting power to the charging stations, Dowe said.
He noted that this is the second charging station project that the city has pursued. The first charging stations were completed earlier last year at the grand opening of the East Point City Hall campus. There are four charging stations there for citizens to use while they visit the campus and a courthouse/law enforcement center next door. The stations are owned by the City of East Point.
There is also another major charging station project underway that will hopefully be completed in early 2021, Dowe said.
This project will be housed at the Camp Creek Marketplace area, which is a major hub for businesses in that area and patrons visiting Hartsfield Jackson International Airport in Atlanta.
Electrify America formed in 2017
Electrify America, which says it has the largest open DC fast charging network in the US, was formed in 2017 to manage $2 billion in investments in zero emission vehicle infrastructure. The funds come from its parent company and are mandated under a 2016 settlement of the Volkswagen emissions-cheating scandal. The settlement will cost the car manufacturer $14.7 billion over 10 years.
The settlement also includes $2.7 billion over three years for an environmental trust to remediate the illegal levels of nitrogen oxides emitted by the VW vehicles.
APPA offers EV Activities Tracker
The American Public Power Association offers a Public Power EV Activities Tracker, which summarizes key efforts undertaken by members — including incentives, electric vehicle deployment, charging infrastructure investments, rate design, pilot programs, and more.
