Very cool that Wellesley Whole Foods Market at 442 Washington St., has installed what as far as we can tell is the only public electric car charging station in town (if there are others, let us know…nothing else shows up on the alternative fuel finders we checked). We’d been wondering whether anyone in or out of town has actually used it.
A Whole Foods rep says that indeed some car chargers have been spotted but did not have information on actual usage, noting there is no gauge at the station.
Scott Bender of Wellesley’s Sustainable Energy Committee says that electric charging stations will be a topic at an upcoming committee meeting, and in fact he did receive a recent inquiry about electric vehicles/charging stations in town. “I am sure that interest will build as electric cars and plug-in hybrids increase in number,” he says. Electric cars on the market include the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt, with others such as GM’s all-electric Chevy Spark in the works.
We thought Babson College or Wellesley College might have a public electric charging station given that both are big into sustainability, but Babson doesn’t and as far as we know, Wellesley College doesn’t either. Though Wellesley does have at least one solar-powered car that putters around campus.
One of our out-of-town guests charged up his Volt there; very nice, although the other shoppers didn’t quite understand why he HAD to pick that parking space.
I’m due to receive my Volt at the end of October, at which time I will be using the Whole Foods charging station…