City generates electric vehicle plans, deal for new charging stations

STERLING HEIGHTS — Plans are in the works to install new charging stations for electric vehicles near several buildings and parks in Sterling Heights, and officials say they also have a broader plan to make the city friendlier to those vehicles.

City officials say their EV Charging Station Master Plan will smooth the way for the anticipated rollout of EV-related infrastructure throughout the city. They believe that the move will make the city a more sustainable place by reducing pollution.

Sterling Heights and consulting firm Wade Trim teamed up to craft the overarching EV master plan. The city reportedly got $28,648 from a Southeast Michigan Council of Governments grant program to fund the EV plan. The city also reportedly paid a $6,352 contribution.

City Manager Mark Vanderpool called the developments with EV vehicles “super exciting.”

“As a community, we have to be well prepared for this wave of electrical vehicle rollout over the next 10 years,” he said. “It’s growing exponentially every year.”

According to City Planner II Alexis Richards, EVs are all-electric vehicles that must be plugged into the power grid to power up. She said their benefits include reducing pollution. Even taking manufacturing and battery production into account, an electric vehicle produces around half the lifetime emissions that an internal combustion engine vehicle does, she said.

According to the Sterling Heights Sustainability Plan, the city has a goal of advancing the spread of electric vehicle infrastructure and purchasing electric city vehicles. Besides offering charging stations on city property, the city also, among other things, wants to amend zoning regulations to be more amenable to EV charging stations and EV parking spaces.

Richards explained some other things that the city wants to do under this EV master plan.

“From an electrification policy (standpoint), the city should consider adopting policies designed to promote renewable energy and generation and on-site storage at city properties; prepare for conversion of our fleet to EVs; develop construction standards and specifications to ensure all city capital projects are EV-ready; and then further, the city should encourage the Federal Highway Administration to include M-59 and M-53 as EV corridors to open us up for federal funding,” she said.

 

Pulling into the station
City officials also discussed a public-private partnership the city recently formed that reportedly won’t cost taxpayers a dime.

Electric vehicle owners can soon look forward to 17 more charging stations in the city, including the parks. The estimated timeline predicts their installation by the end of 2023.

Officials say the city will give the General Motors Dealer Community Charging Program access to space to install the infrastructure, and “GM Dealers will underwrite the cost of the charging stations.” An EV charging company named Flo will supply the Level 2 charging stations, and State Electric Co. will do the installation and handle upkeep, the city added. According to the city, each new charging station can handle two vehicles at once.

Charging stations will be on city property. The City Hall area will get four, the Community Center will get two more on top of the one it already has, the Senior Center will get one, and the Department of Public Works facility will get one.

Among the parks, Dodge Park will have three, Delia will have three, Baumgartner will have one and Nelson will have one. Lastly, Schoenherr Towers will have one station.

Currently, the city has at least five publicly accessible stations right now, including the Community Center one, Richards said. EV charging is currently free by the Community Center, though she explained that plugging in vehicles could carry a price someday.

“As a part of this master planning process, for long-term scalability, the city should consider charging a fee potentially to cover maintenance for the charger,” she said.

According to the city’s Facebook posts, people who use the upcoming EV stations will pay the “market rate” to charge their vehicles.

Vanderpool added that the City Council still has to approve the required leases for the charging stations, adding that the agreements should be ready for consideration by July. He added that, if all goes according to plan, the new stations should be up and ready by the end of 2023.

“It’s just a start,” he said. “You know, there will be eventually hundreds, if not thousands, of charging stations throughout the city. But this is a unique partnership that allows us to get these charging stations installed quickly throughout the city.”

When it was time for City Council members to speak, Mayor Pro Tem Liz Sierawski said her children who live in California experience blackouts with a grid that strains even under air conditioner usage.

She asked Greg Crnkovich, from State Electric, what he has heard from local utility companies about preparing Michigan’s grid for vehicle electrification. Crnkovich said the utilities know that the demand for EV charging is coming.

“They’re definitely building up the grid in preparation for it,” he said. “And much of the charging that happens in residential applications usually happens at night, so that doesn’t affect the grid. … They’re just building out the rest of the grid in anticipation for some of this public charging and stuff.”

Sierawski added that, due to the battery, electric vehicles tend to be significantly heavier than comparable internal combustion engine vehicles.

“This is going to put a lot of stress on our roads and our infrastructure,” she said. “So there is still cost to the city in some form, so we need to understand that going forward.”

Find out more about the Sterling Heights EV Charging Station Master Plan by visiting sterling-heights.net/EVcharging. Learn more about Sterling Heights by visiting www.sterling-heights.net or by calling (586) 446-2489.