Ever see that SNL skit where Will Farrell shouts (to no one in particular), "I drive a Dodge Stratus!!" as a comment about his position as an upwardly mobile, white-collar breadwinner to an unappreciative family? Well, "I drive an electric car!" and as a card-carrying crunchy granola hippie, I just **love** that we have a DC fast charger and a few other green gimmicks at this stretch of 2nd street now called Electric Drive in downtown's newly rechristened "Seaholm Ecodistrict".
Besides being able to completely recharge my car in 30 minutes via stored wind-generated power (heck, that barely gives me time to do the 3-mile loop on the trail from across the adjacent Pfluger Bridge), I can hang out at the cool shaded kiosk by Sol Design Lab and charge up my phone via solar panels. If you're not a runner/walker/biker or people watcher, you can also park & charge via slower (4 hour) Level 2 ports while shopping at the nearby Trader Joe's or dining at Boiler 9 or True Food. Soon we'll also have that gorgeous new Central Library open next door, too.
From the Austin Energy press release from the opening in March 2017, "Electric Drive is powered entirely by renewable energy. Electric Drive offers dedicated parking for two electric vehicle charging stations including a fast-charging DC port, and a solar-powered kiosk that can recharge electric bikes, scooters, motorcycles, laptops and mobile devices using integrated USB ports and electrical outlets. The kiosk, located alongside the Butler Hike & Bike Trail, also provides shade from the sun's rays during the day, and LED lighting at night. Electric Drive demonstrates Austin Energy's commitment to the growing electric vehicle market and renewable energy."
More about the launch (with video) is available here:
http://www.twcnews.com/tx/austin/news/2017/03/27/austin-energy-unveils-electric-drive.html
The docking of a star has to do with the fact that #1, you have to pay to park in the metered spots every day but Sunday (even though the EV charging service is free), and #2, this station is notorious among EV drivers for being out of service more often than not. Austin is still growing and figuring out how to make this infrastructure work; they still have some work to do.
When the station is down, call 1-888-758-4389 (mentioning Chargepoint charger #5DB2) for assistance. You can also try this map of other COA PlugIn EVerywhere network chargers around town http://austinenergy.com/wps/portal/ae/green-power/plug-in-austin/electric-vehicle-drivers/electric-vehicle-drivers . There are 250 almost free (you have to pay $25 every 6 months for the keychain access card/dongle) charging stations in Austin's network (and still others at stores like Whole Foods and Walgreens), so don't lose hope if you're low on juice!
We gonna rock down to...
Electric Ave... er, Drive.
Dang it! They really missed an opportunity here. Poor Eddy Grant will be getting no royalties on this one. read more