Citrus College will be installing 25 electric vehicle charging stations on campus. Fred Diamond, director of facilities and construction, said this is made possible by a grant provided by SoCal Edison’s Charge Ready Program.
Diamond said Citrus College was one of the first two colleges to be accepted into the program, the other being Long Beach City College.
The grant covers the cost of installing the electric infrastructure that connects the stations to the electric grid, a value of about $250,000.
Diamond said the construction will be done by contractors of SoCal Edison. He also said Citrus College only needs to cover the costs of the electric charging stations and have them set on the foundation. The total cost of the installation is about $400,000.
Diamond said the stations will be located in the S9 lot adjacent to the Math and Technician Development buildings. Two of the stations will be compliant with the Americans with Disability Act and will be next to the door of the math building.
The remaining 23 stations will run along Barranca Avenue split between the north and south of the driveway off Barranca Avenue.
Diamond said the start and completion date is currently unknown as the project plans are awaiting approval by the State of California.
Diamond said that once the project is approved, the installation will take two to three months to complete. A part of the parking lot will be inaccessible during that time due to trenches being dug for the electrical work along the parking lot. The trenches will be along the driveway to the Math Building, along the Math building to the doors facing the S9 lot, and along Barranca where the charging stations will be placed.
The new charging stations will also benefit the automotive department on campus. Faculty instructor Dave Brown said the division will be starting a new 12-unit certification program for electric and hybrid vehicles in the fall.
Brown said the department will have limited use of the chargers but can instruct students on how to use them and teach them the different types of charging for electric vehicles.
Some people on campus who own electric vehicles may not use the new chargers.
Robert Sammis, director of human resources and electric vehicle owner said in an email, “I probably will not need to use the charging stations since my electric car has enough range to permit me to easily commute to work.”
Paul Swatzel, faculty member in mathematics and Tesla owner, said in an email, “I have been told that charging will not be free. Most public charging stations are actually quite expensive … so I generally charge at night.”
After the stations are installed and the parking lot is reopened there will be 25 parking spaces reserved in the S9 lot for electric cars only.
