LEWES, Del. - One month after the Lewes City Council unanimously approved a request to place four electric car charges in city limits, the chargers and up and running.
The chargers--two multi-use and two Tesla specific--are located on Schley Avenue and by Otis Smith Park. Public Works General Manager Darrin Gordon says the chargers have been well-received, and their placement is strategic.
"Parking spots in Lewes are at a premium so it was tough to find just the right one," he says, explaining they put the chargers in spots that were not metered. "We also put these here so we can have people very close to downtown, close to the beach, so someone could park here, charge it and enjoy everything."
The chargers were built after a local man, Paul Evalds, volunteered to pay for the chargers himself, costing the city just $6,000 in installation. Evalds says the chargers are already bringing new people into Lewes.
"Within one hour of being up on PlugShare, people from Maryland were already here in Lewes Delaware charging," he says. "The first thing they said was "Well we've never come to Lewes before but we came because we saw there was a charger here."
According to Evalds, Tesla data shows demand is incredibly high in the Delaware beach area. He says before the Lewes chargers were put in, the closest Tesla chargers were in hotels in Rehoboth Beach, so they're not easy to access for someone just driving through. The Lewes chargers are free to the public as well.
"Before we installed our chargers here, there were two [tesla chargers] in the entire state," he says. "We doubled the number of destination chargers in one day by turning our stations on."
Evalds says he's excited to see Lewes embracing green technology, as more auto makers are heading that direction.
"These will be more and more commonplace and I'm glad we can provide them," he says.
Evalds and Gordon say an official ribbon cutting for the new chargers is expected to take place next month.
