Park and Ride Lot Opens Near Hamilton

For just $1.44, owners of electric cars can now drive to a park and ride lot near Hamilton, plug in their car, and ride a commuter bus to work. When they return at the end of the workday, their car will be fully charged.

The Harmony Park and Ride Lot at Scott Jenkins Memorial Park officially opened on Wednesday, September 28, with 250 parking spaces for commuters. The lot is located at 39464 Colonial Highway (Business Route 7), east of Hamilton.

Blue Ridge District Supervisor Jim Burton noted that the lot had unofficially been open for a few days, and that the lot was already nearly full. Another county park and ride lot, currently under development at Franklin Park west of Purcellville, will add another 200 spaces, Burton said.

The electric charging stations and other clean energy features of the park and ride lot drew the most attention at the official opening ceremony.

The five charging stations have the capacity to charge a total of 10 vehicles at once, according to Nicole Steele, Energy Grant Specialist for the county.

“This is a pilot project,” she said when asked if more charging stations are planned. “We will operate and monitor it for a year, then [report] back to the Board of Supervisors.”

Steele said that the project was made possible by $300,000 in federal stimulus funds, through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program. In addition to the charging stations, the grant money was also used to construct 24 LED light poles that each hold two solar arrays, which supply energy to the power grid. The LED lighting is 90 percent more efficient than standard lights, Steele said.

She said that she did not think any of the charging stations were being used yet, but that the county would now move into a phase of publicity and marketing to build public awareness about the program.

Steele said that the Board of Supervisors set the fee of $1.44 per charging session, which would cost the users less than if they charged the vehicles at home.

Roland Lartigue, Manager of Smart Grid Applications for Siemens Energy, which supplied the charging stations, compared electric cars to digital cameras. He said that his former employer, Eastman Kodak, resisted the transition from film to digital technology.

“I see a lot of you out there with cameras today,” he said.  “How many of you are using film cameras?”

Lartigue said that Loudoun County should be proud of its role in bringing the electric charging station technology to the county and the state.