UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Electric vehicle owners will find a new location for charging and reduced charging rates when visiting Penn State’s two on-campus hotels.
Transportation Services recently partnered with the Office of Physical Plant and Hospitality Services to add two electric vehicle (EV) charging stations near The Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center at Innovation Park. These stations include four plugs: three for general use and one for vehicles with valid ADA placards or license plates only. The new EV charging stations are in the visitor parking lot on the west side of the hotel.
The addition of the new stations brings the total of publicly available EV plugs on campus to nine, with five of the plugs (three stations) installed at the Nittany Deck in 2018.
Along with the new stations, Transportation Services has reduced EV charging fees by 50% (from $2 per hour to $1 per hour) to further encourage the use of electric vehicles.
The new EV charging stations and reduced charging rates are a win for both campus guests and Penn State’s sustainability mission, according to Cecily Zhu, Transportation Services’ sustainable transportation program coordinator.
“EV charging stations are an attractive amenity for our campus hotel guests and other visitors to campus, as well as our faculty and staff,” Zhu said. “These stations also support the sustainability efforts of Transportation Services and Penn State. Electric vehicle usage continues to grow across the country, and our hope is that adding new charging stations on campus and reducing charging rates will encourage more people to embrace this more sustainable vehicle technology.”
To allow access to as many users as possible, vehicles using the charging stations must be moved to a regular, nonreserved parking space or exit when fully charged.
The EV charging stations are managed by ChargePoint, the world's largest EV charging network, with more than 47,000 charging spots worldwide. To use the station, drivers simply download the ChargePoint mobile app and sign up for a free ChargePoint account.
For details on how to access EV charging stations through ChargePoint, visit https://www.chargepoint.com/support/how-to-charge/.