ORONO, Maine — The state of Maine has made a push for Mainers to drive electric vehicles. Part of the push toward EV's entails ensuring Mainers there is sufficient infrastructure in the state to support it.
The University of Maine has added four new Level 2 charging stations, bringing the total number of chargers at UMaine to 35.
"I constantly get emails from folks looking for a charging space," Daniel Dixon, the director of sustainability at UMaine, said. "I get an email every time it's used, so I was getting a lot of emails."
Nearly 6,000 EV's were registered in Maine in 2021, according to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. And that number is only expected to increase, according to a Darling's Auto Group spokesperson.
Kim Cotta, the fixed operations talent director at Darling's, said electric vehicles make up about 3 percent of Darling's overall vehicle sales, and every new manufacturer has at least one EV model.
Ford just released its new all-electric Ford F-150.
"There's going to be something for everyone in the EV market coming soon," Cotta said. "With all the different products being launched from all the different manufacturers, we've really seen interest in them increase. It's only going to go up from here."
Eighty-five percent of electric vehicle charging is done at home, but Cotta said people are becoming more at ease buying electric as they see more public chargers become available.
Back at UMaine, Dixon said charging on campus is convenient for many but is especially important for certain electric vehicles.
"Particularly the ones with smaller batteries that don't necessarily hold enough charge to get them all the way here and all the way home again," Dixon said.
The four new chargers were funded with a $16,000 grant from Efficiency Maine that covered nearly 65 percent of the installation project.
The campus now offering 35 charging stations, five of which are Level 2 stations for public use. UMaine's other 30 units include two Level 2 units for students who live in the dorms and 28 Level 1 stations for faculty and staff.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, UMaine offers the only public EV charging stations in Orono, and the next closest location for charging is in Bangor.