Electric car owners will soon be able to juice up at the mall.
The Shops at Highland Village will soon be the home of two electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, according to mall owner, Jacksonville, FL-based Regency Centers.
Regency is partnering with San Francisco-based ECOtality, Inc. to install Blink Level 2 EV charging stations this year at the Highland Village mall and 18 other shopping centers in six states.
The rollout is part of The EV Project, the largest national deployment of commercial and residential charging stations in major U.S. cities and metropolitan areas.
The goal of The EV Project is to collect data on electric vehicle use, evaluate the effectiveness of EV charging infrastructure and evaluate revenue systems for commercial and public charging stations.
ECOtality was awarded a $99.8 million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Energy in August 2009 to embark on The EV Project. In June 2010, the project was granted an additional $15 million by the U.S. Department of Energy.
“The EV stations provide an added shopper convenience, demonstrate and encourage a commitment to the environment, and generate a potential future revenue stream,” said Scott Prigge, senior vice president of national property operations for Regency Centers.
“Our goal has been to deploy a network of chargers that are conveniently placed where consumers work, shop and play—and aligning ourselves with major property owners is a key part of achieving that goal,” said Colin Read, VP of Corporate Development at ECOtality.
Regency Centers is planning to install the two units at The Shops at Highland Village behind New York & Company on the southwest corner of the mall parking lot by June.
The charging stations are also slated to be installed at Regency’s Hickory Creek Plaza, which is anchored by a Kroger Signature grocery store on FM 2181 in south Denton.
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