Hamilton College deploys 20 free electric charging stations on campus

CLINTON, N.Y. — Hamilton College announced it has installed 20 electric charging stations at various locations throughout the campus.

They have been available for use by the campus and community free of charge since April 15, the school said in a Friday news release.

This program was made possible with grants totaling $200,000 from National Grid and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), Vige Barrie, senior director of media relations at Hamilton College, tells BJNN in an email message.

William Huggins, Hamilton’s director of building systems management, oversaw the project. He noted that the facilities-management team knew that 20 stations would be “more” than the school would need, but figured “it was an opportunity to prepare ourselves for the future, realizing that it would just be a matter of time before electric vehicles, EVs, would become the norm,” per the release.

“We needed to create the infrastructure before people will be willing to purchase EV vehicles. The campus was studied to determine the best locations to place the chargers; the selected locations took into account student needs and employee parking patterns as well as how we could make it convenient for guests to have opportunities to charge. Our admissions office tends to see visitors that need this ability,” Huggins said.

Ultimately, Hamilton selected charging locations in parking lots above the dean of students’ office; behind the squash courts; in two student lots on the Kirkland side of campus; behind the library and the admission office; behind Skenandoa and Ferguson residence halls; and behind the campus safety office.

Only three charging locations currently have designated parking spaces, but, “as the program grows,” Hamilton will reserve space at the other locations reserved for charging to “accommodate demand.”  

Vehicles are allowed to stay in charging spaces for a maximum of three hours.

“I feel we are doing what’s right for our community and environment until, perhaps, some other innovation emerges as a better option,” said Huggins.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com