Chugach Electric program builds charging capacity in Anchorage

The Dimond Center is the latest Anchorage business to team up with Chugach Electric on an electric vehicle (EV) charging station. The Dimond Center has installed a facility to charge electric vehicles on the west side of the mall, near a main entrance. The installation was completed with financial assistance from Chugach as part of a research project to gather information about the use of publicly available chargers in Anchorage.

The charging station was unveiled Friday, Oct. 2 at a ribbon cutting to coincide with National Drive Electric Week, which is Sept. 26 to Oct. 4. National Drive Electric Week is a nationwide celebration to raise awareness of the many benefits of all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

“We’re very happy to have the Dimond Center partner with us on this EV charging station as it’s a key location in Anchorage,” said Chugach CEO Lee Thibert. “Our charging program has multiple benefits for members and the whole community. We are learning more about the use of publicly available chargers while also helping attract customers to businesses and providing places for EV drivers throughout the Railbelt to charge when they’re away from home.”

“As a local family-owned business, Dimond Center always looks for ways to serve its customers better,” said Hugh Ashlock, with Dimond Center. “We feel this is a tremendous opportunity to jumpstart the electric vehicle movement in our state and we are excited to welcome EV drivers to the largest mixed-use facility in Alaska.”

The Dimond Center charging station is the third such facility funded in part by the Chugach program.  Similar installations were completed earlier at the Alyeska Resort and JL Properties’ South Anchorage Mall.  An additional installation is planned for a Municipal parking lot in West Anchorage.  The installations are for Level 2 charging equipment with universal connectors.  Like the other installations, the Dimond Center facility can charge two electric vehicles at the same time.  An hour of charging can add 25-30 miles of driving range to the batteries of electric vehicles.  

As part of the program Chugach contributed up to $7,500 toward the actual installed cost of the charging facility. The charging station will be selected, installed, owned, and maintained by the customer for the duration of the three-year research period.

EV Background

The use of EVs in Alaska is growing. Ongoing Chugach research found there were nearly 1,200 EVs registered in Alaska at the end of June, up about 25% in the past year. Nearly half of those vehicles were registered to addresses in the Railbelt. About 60% of the Railbelt EVs were registered to addresses in the Municipality of Anchorage with the remainder registered to other locations throughout the region.

The program under which the Dimond Center installed its new charging facility is separate from the half-dozen new EV incentive programs Chugach announced in August.  Those include bill credits for residential and commercial locations that install charging, as well as offers targeted at hotels and fleet operators.

Chugach estimates an electric vehicle driver charging at its residential rate for electricity would save about 50% on monthly fuel costs when gasoline is $3 per gallon.

For more information on Chugach’s EV incentive program, go to https://www.chugachelectric.com/energy-solutions/electric-vehicles

For more information on National Drive Electric Week, go to https://driveelectricweek.org/