Santa Clara County to Offer Electric Vehicle Charging Services to Public

Electric vehicle drivers may soon find themselves relishing a trip to the county clerk’s office as after a partnership with CarCharging, Santa Clara County will provide 12 electric vehicle parking spaces at the Santa Clara County Civic Center employee parking lot, located at 950 North San Pedro Street in San Jose, for electric vehicle charging by both County employees and the public.

“The County of Santa Clara is committed to initiatives that help protect the environment,” said President George Shirakawa, Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.  “Offering this service to the public is one way we can further contribute.”

The charging stations will be located under one of the canopies of the county’s recently completed 5.6 megawatt solar photovoltaic project which included the installation of solar arrays in eight county sites.

“As an early member of the Bay Area Climate Change Collaborative, Santa Clara County has demonstrated its ‘green’ leadership,” said Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese. “Our solar panels are already returning power to the grid, now we can go a step further by using them to support public use of electric vehicles.” 

“Santa Clara County is proud to be part of the expanding network of electric vehicle charging stations available to our residents,” said Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager.  “Zero-emission vehicles are critical to reversing the effects of global warming.”

The charging stations are provided by CarCharging, the Miami based provider of electric vehicle charging stations and services, and use dual-headed Coulomb units to provide 240 volts with 32 amps of power to quickly refuel an electric vehicle’s battery. According to CarCharging, the charging stations utilize the standard SAE J1772 connector which has been widely adopted by nearly all electric vehicle manufacturers. 

“We continue to extend the footprint of our EV charging services in California, to support the most popular markets for demand of electric vehicles and EV charging services,” said Michael D. Farkas, CEO of CarCharging. “CarCharging is committed to delivering convenient EV charging services to all EV drivers by providing easy access to our services.” 

Drivers will have to register at CarCharging’s website to receive a small, keychain attachable account card for use at the chargers. However, the card also allows drivers to use any location on CarCharging’s network.

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