HANCOCK COUNTY — A soft whir emanated from the Nissan Leaf emblazoned with NineStar Connect logos as Matt Layton pulled up to the electric vehicle charging station.
Layton, who works in sales for the utility cooperative, flipped open a lid on the front of the car to reveal a pair of ports. Then he grabbed a device connected by a cable to the charging station, its shape aptly reminiscent of a gas pump nozzle, and plugged it in. A few taps of some buttons on the charging station’s monitor, and electricity started flowing to the vehicle’s battery.
The charging station, located at the NineStar Connect/Idea Co-op campus at 2331 E. County Road 600N, is one of two recently added to Hancock County’s existing electric vehicle infrastructure. They represent part of a drive to expand that inventory both locally and across the state as the popularity of electric vehicles increases.
NineStar also teamed up with Hancock Health to put an electric vehicle charging station at the Hancock Wellness Center at 805 N. Clearview Drive, McCordsville.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryThey’re both Level 2 stations, meaning they can provide 12 to 25 miles of driving with a one-hour charge. Both stations can charge two vehicles at once.
Michael Burrow, president and CEO of NineStar Connect, said in a news release that the utility was motivated to pursue the charging stations after the release of the Urban Land Institute Study of the Mt. Comfort Corridor last year. The study reports that economic development along the corridor will hinge on electric vehicle, or EV, infrastructure, because auto manufacturers have announced plans to begin phasing out gasoline-powered engines beginning over the next several years.
“The ULI study made it clear that the time to begin building EV infrastructure in Hancock County is now,” Burrow said. “There are only 163 EV charging stations in the entire state of Indiana, and there were just two in the east Indianapolis region before we opened two more. The need for these stations will only increase as EV ownership grows.”
At the end of 2017, there were about 1,725 electric vehicles and 3,133 hybrid electric vehicles registered in Indiana, according to the news release. The release adds electric vehicle ownership is expected to reach 15 million vehicles by 2030 and that the share of electric vehicle ownership in rural communities will be about 4%.
There’s no cost to charge at the Idea Co-op location, while there’s a price of $2 per hour at the Hancock Wellness Center in McCordsville.
Steve Long, president and CEO of Hancock Health and Hancock Regional Hospital, said in the news release that the charging station is a welcome addition to the wellness center in McCordsville.
“We want residents to take advantage of the wellness center, and an EV charging station is an attractive service to offer to visitors,” Long said.
The locations join three other public electric vehicle charging stations in Hancock County, all in Greenfield. The city installed its first about a year ago off the north side of Main Street west of State Street. A couple months ago, the city installed another in a city-owned parking lot on the north side of South Street just west of State Street. Both are Level 2 chargers that can charge two vehicles at once at a cost of 50 cents an hour with a $2 base cost. While it depends on the vehicle, most take about four hours for a full charge, or 200 miles.
Fairfield Inn & Suites near I-70 and State Street has a charging station as well. Greenfield Power & Light has a charging station in its garage to charge its fleet. The city has two electric vehicles, with plans to purchase a third.
Data provided by the city shows that the Main Street charging station has had 65 charging sessions since March 2019, peaking at 12 last December.
Sessions in the city-owned lot off South Street totaled four for January and four so far this month. Michael Fruth, director of utilities in Greenfield, said the lot is primarily used for city vehicles.
Greenfield has plans for more charging stations, Fruth said, including one near the interstate.
“I continue to think electric vehicles will continue to play a huge role in the future,” he said. “They’re becoming more popular and more widespread.”
Former state Sen. Beverly Gard, R-Greenfield, heads an Indiana Department of Environmental Management committee tasked with spending the state’s share of the penalty Volkswagen is paying for cheating on diesel emissions tests — almost $41 million.
“Almost all of the car manufacturers are working on electric vehicles,” Gard said. “…The big sticking point right now obviously is the infrastructure to support it.”
The special IDEM committee held a meeting in January on electric vehicle charging infrastructure and issued a request for information on such infrastructure.
“Developing the infrastructure to support these vehicles is going to be extremely important for them to be viable over a long term,” Gard said.
Fruth said more electric vehicle infrastructure will lead to less anxiety toward buying electric vehicles.
“I think more and more people would get into the electric vehicle market if they had the assurance that they can get it charged,” he said.
Infrastructure initiatives are under way across the country too. ChargePoint (the company that makes the charging stations in Hancock County) and the National Association of Truck Stop Owners announced a $1 billion plan earlier this month to deploy electric vehicle charging infrastructure at more than 4,000 travel plazas and fuel stops in the country. Also earlier this month, Congress members introduced a bill that would establish a nationwide high-speed charging network and another that would boost access to chargers in low-income communities and communities of color.
Brian Dowden, director of network operations for NineStar Connect, drives a Nissan Leaf as his personal vehicle. He’s been driving them since 2015.
“I like that I haven’t been to a gas station since 2015, haven’t had to pay for gas,” he said.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, in Indiana, it costs $1.13 per “eGallon” — the cost of fueling a vehicle with electricity compared to a similar vehicle that runs on gasoline. Gas prices in Greenfield this week are ranging from $2.32 to $2.41 a gallon.
Dowden, who lives in McCordsville, said he only needs to charge his car once or twice a week to get to and from work every day. His family also owns a gasoline-fueled van.
For his colleague, Layton, the Leaf decked in NineStar emblems is his first experience with an electric car.
“It’s like a golf cart — a souped-up golf cart,” Layton said.
He said driving it required small adjustments, like adapting to looking at a battery percentage as opposed to a fuel gauge. While the car approximates how many miles the battery has left on it, he said he also needs to keep in mind other factors affecting the battery, like running the heater during this time of year.
Dowden admitted he was on the fence five years ago when he got his first electric car. But now, he said, they’re all he’ll ever drive.
“Especially with the amount of options,” he said. “You were pretty limited before, but everybody is getting into the market right now.”
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Electric vehicle charging stations in Hancock County
- NineStar Connect/Idea Co-op campus, 2331 E. 600N
- Hancock Wellness Center, 805 N. Clearview Drive, McCordsville
- Off north side of Main Street west of State Street, Greenfield
- Parking lot on north side of South Street west of State Street, Greenfield
- Fairfield Inn & Suites, 2253 William Way, Greenfield
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Sessions at electric vehicle charging station on Main Street in Greenfield
March 2019: 4
April: 7
May: 2
June: 2
July: 6
August: 7
September: 3
October: 5
November: 6
December: 12
January 2020: 10
February: 1
Total: 65
Source: Greenfield Power & Light
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