Charge Your Electric Car in Capitola Next Month

Capitola may lack sufficient parking, but starting next month, the Village’s vehicular services will be amped up by the installation of an electric car-charging station, with the capacity to serve two cars at once.

The station will be located in the northwest corner of the Pacific Cove Parking lot behind City Hall, and Public Works Director Steve Jesberg said Monday that he hopes to have it up an running in the next week or two.

“To put it in, we need to turn off power to the mobile home park and the police station, because of the floods,” Jesberg said. “I haven’t scheduled the work yet, but I’m going to try schedule it in the next few days.”

The station is one of thousands being installed throughout California. Like those recently installed in Santa Cruz and Scotts Valley, the Capitola station comes from ChargePoint America, a company owned by Coulomb Technologies in Campbell. According to Jesberg, Coulolmb Technologies received a government grant to be put toward electric car-charging stations.

While Jesberg said there is not any data that he has seen supporting the need for a station by electric-car-using residents, he is still excited to see what kind of usage it attracts.

“I think this is one of these cases where we’re trying to get out in front of the curve,” he said. “I know there’s a number of GEM Cars (Global Electric Motorcars) that you can charge in your garage that people use to go around town here. Getting the visitors to feel comfortable is our key at this point.”

The free station will have both a 120- and 220-volt capability, and Jesberg estimated it would provide up to 100 miles of driving on the city-imposed three-hour charge limit.

Should the station be a success, there is potential for more to be added on the Esplanade.

“We’re trying it out here now to gauge the interest and the usage,” Jesberg said. "For right now, I think this is a good spot, and hopefully we’ll get some usage."