It’s a subject that’s been hot in the news: the number of Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations is on the rise. Now, a new federal-funded project is making it easier for TIers to power up their electric vehicles. In April, TI’s Worldwide Facilities department is installing 46 Blink network Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations at 12 different TI sites across Texas.
Through a government and private-industry partnership designed to accelerate EV adoption, TI is installing the charging stations at no cost, and will evaluate them throughout the year. At the end of the evaluation period, TI can choose whether to leave the stations in place or remove them. (Want to see a map of Blink’s 289 Dallas stations? Click here.)
Other charging station locations will include TI’s Sherman manufacturing facility, which will receive four, and TI’s Richardson manufacturing facility which will receive two. The locations were selected based on building population and access to nearby power sources.
Steve Moore, a 31-year TIer and self-described “car nut,” is manager of central utilities and is helping to roll out the project. “I hope that the program becomes very popular and our employees look at it as another benefit,” he says. “TI has multiple products that go into electric cars, so in a way, we’re helping support our own technology.”
TIer Guy Josselyn, a strategy team manager for TI’s design systems IT group, agrees. Josselyn drives a 2012 Tesla S Model, and has been giving Moore’s team feedback for the past year.
“I’m a very big supporter of TI doing what it can to alleviate our footprint from an environmental standpoint,” Josselyn says. “Anything we can do to move toward having flexibility is a good thing for our country and opens up new technologies and ways to save energy, transfer energy and store energy.”
The Level 2 fast-charging stations will be operated by electronic transportation company ECOtality on the Blink network. Because it can take up to eight hours to charge an electric vehicle (depending on amount of discharge), Blink sends emails or texts to alert car owners when their charge is complete. The stations at the TI campuses are designed to supplement home chargers, and charge $1 per hour, the standard rate.
These new EV stations are the first official stations at TI – but not the very first. About a decade ago, a former TIer built his own electric vehicle, and TI facilitated an onsite spot where he could park and re-power. “We were cool before it was cool to be cool – old-school cool,” Moore says with a laugh.
We’re, ahem, energized, either way.