SALT LAKE CITY — Parts of the Wasatch Front have spent several days under a red air-quality alert. More than half of the air pollution comes from vehicle emissions. To reduce emissions, people can drive less or take public transportation. A third option is to drive an electric car, which emits no pollution. To encourage more people to do option No. 3, Salt Lake City has installed six charging stations throughout the city.
"People can't be expected to embrace electric vehicle technology if there's no infrastructure in the city," said Renee Zollinger, Salt Lake City's environmental program manager. "This is our way to show that we have a commitment to bring in the infrastructure at the same rate that people adopt that technology."
Right now, there are six reserved stalls for electric cars to charge. There are two at the Salt Lake City Main Library Parking Garage and one at 50 East 300 South, 135 S. Main Street, Forest Dale Golf Course and Liberty Park.
The charging stations are equipped with 110/120-volt alternative current power outlets that use a standard electric outlet. The Main Street parking garage has a second charging station that carries a 220/240-volt power outlet, which is typically found in newer electric cars..
While it can take anywhere from four to 10 hours to fully charge an electric car, the charging stations are convenient.
"We have installed these stations to kind of help kick off the sales of these vehicles and make it possible for people to top off their batteries when they need a charge," transportation engineer Dan Bergenthal explained.
"Anyone that has an electric vehicle today can plug in," explained Alden Breinholt, public services operation director for Salt Lake City. "There's no cost to the public to charge their vehicles today."
The stalls are specifically reserved for vehicles that are charging; all others who park there are subject to a $50 fine.
Breinholt said there's no way to know whether people are using the facilities, since there is no metering in place, that would tell the city the number of connections and the number of kilowatts being used at the stations, but he said before the end of the year, that will probably change.
At the auto shows earlier this year, including the Utah Auto Expo, the electric car displays drew big crowds. Vehicles like the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf are just beginning to hit the bigger cities. They won't arrive in Utah until the end of the year at the earliest.
Longtime Utah auto dealer Jerry Seiner has a Volt and says Salt Lake was smart to plan ahead with the plug-in parking stalls.
"It's great to see the charging stations showing up," he said. I think a couple of years from now, you're going to see a lineup of people waiting to get into the charging station."
The electric cars are great for "going back and forth to work and home, (and) running to the grocery store," said Stan Foutz, general manager at Tim Dahle Nissan. "It's for what 90 percent of the people do their driving for.