Charging stations to help put Dothan on the map

City and AMEA officials took part in testing the newly installed electric vehicle (EV) chargers on Thursday on the corner of Foster and Troy streets (Pioneer Park) in a public demonstration with a Nissan Leaf, an EV provided by Bondy’s Nissan car dealership.

Arthur Bishop, AMEA’s Manager of Transmission and Distribution Technology Support, used two different charging ports to show the speed at which they could charge the Nissan Leaf.

“Everything seems to be working,” Dothan Utilities Assistant Director Chris Phillips said following the demonstration.

The new charging station can give an EV enough energy to travel 100 miles after about an hour of being plugged in. The chargers are considered fast charges, as they charge at a faster rate than most home installations.

City and regional leaders are hoping that the stations bring in more travelers and overnight guests.

Phillips said there’s not very much EV ownership among Dothan residents, but other EV owners around the state and region may consider traveling through Dothan now that they have an opportunity to energize their vehicle en route to their destination.

Maps that help guide people on their roadtrips will now include Dothan as an EV charging station location.

The location of the stations, now online, could bring in more people to patronize downtown businesses as they wait for their vehicle to be charged.

The public will be able to pay to use the stations via the ChargePoint phone application or with a card.

Phillips said he hoped the public will have access to the stations in about a month’s times after crews can finish curbing, landscaping, and striping around the location.

The city does have some other EV charging stations, but all are installed at businesses for its customers, not for public use. Tesla announced a supercharger station planned in Dothan tentavely scheduled for 2019, but the date has been moved back several times and is now set for 2022, according to its website.

The initiative was paid for by AMEA’s Electrical Vehicle Charging Initiative that paid grants to each of the 11 municipalities in the co-op. Dothan received $267,513 from the program, but the quote through local vendor Gresco Utility Supply for the first two stations was only $121,620, which includes maintenance costs for five years, and cloud and subscription services through Charge Point.

Commissioner and AMEA Board Member Albert Kirkland said the city wants to use the remainder of the funds to pay for one or two EVs for the city’s fleet, including a courier car and vehicle for Dothan Utilities.

AMEA has helped with some other technology-driven initiatives in Dothan over the last several years.

The $17 million automated metering project was funded in part by AMEA’s Smart Grid Initiative that is helping install around 36,000 meters around the City of Dothan so that customers can monitor their energy and water use daily.

The AMEA also helped fund a solar farm near the Westgate Parkway park entrance with land provided by the city in 2017. The farm helps AMEA to study solar energy and gives Dothan credit for the energy generated for the organization’s electrical grid.