OU installs free electric car charging station for faculty, staff and students

Students and faculty at the University of Oklahoma who drive electric cars, rejoice.

The university announced the installation of its first electric car charging station on campus. The station, which has two ports, is at Three Partners Place, 201 David L. Boren Blvd., in the south part of campus.

Only students and faculty at OU with valid parking permits can use the station, but it is available for free to those who sign up. Vicky Holland, marketing manager for OU Parking and Transportation Services, hopes not charging for the service will encourage people considering hybrid electric cars to move in that direction.

"If we're able to help out in that way in the effort to go green, we want to do that," Holland said.

The station, operated by ChargePoint, opened this week, and Holland said a few people have signed up. More are expected to use the service as the school year progresses.

"We just started this week actually promoting it," she said. "We've had two or three people sign up, and we don't expect huge usage to begin with. It's probably something they were waiting for us to make before they moved toward an electric car."

There was no need to set up a special power grid or generator. Holland said the station plugs directly into power lines. Since ChargePoint allows station owners to set their own prices, OU can offer the service to registered students and faculty for free.

Story continues below video

They will have to sign up with a ChargePoint account online at chargepoint.com or on the company's mobile app.

A university press release states ChargePoint cards should arrive within the week someone signs up, and the card should be activated within the next 24 hours.

Approved members then hold their ChargePoint card over the reader at the station to activate a charge port. A message showing the vehicle is charging should then appear on the station's display screen.

The ChargePoint app also allows users to know when their car is fully charged, if it has been interrupted or if and where there is a station available nearby.

Holland said OU plans to install more charge stations in the future. According to the announcement, the Jenkins Avenue Parking Facility will contain 1,221 parking spaces and will have more electric charging stations when it opens next year, Holland said.

"Our new garage opening in January will have two more of these stations in it," she said. "Later, we can expand, if the demand is there, without having to put in more power lines."

According to figures gathered by the U.S. Department of Energy, hybrid electric vehicle sales peaked at just under 500,000 in 2013 and fell the next two years. About 384,000 were sold in 2015.

Source: OU installs free electric car charging station for faculty, staff and students