Electric car charging stations coming to Lewes, thanks to local businessman

An electric car aficionado will make it easier for green drivers to choose Lewes as a vacation destination.

At the Lewes City Council meeting June 12, the council voted unanimously to approve the installation of four electric car charging stations in the city. The stations aren't being paid for by the city — they're being donated by a local businessman.

Paul Evalds, whose company Avatar Instruments designs solid state electrical power controllers and custom temperature control systems, approached the city with the idea.

"It is in line with our sustainability goals to encourage alternative transportation," said Lewes City Manager Ann Marie Townshend. "The city of Lewes has been very proactive on issues of sustainability, and we're trying to be mindful of the challenges of a coastal community, like sea-level rise and climate change, and this is very much in line with those goals."

READ MORE: DNREC issues updated incentives for electric cars

Evalds said as an electric car user, he is "doing the right thing."

"I own an electric car. I saw a need for it in the town," Evalds said. "The electric car community is very aware of where they can charge. People will plan vacations and trips around that."

Evalds said he felt putting "destination chargers" in Lewes would help draw these green-minded vacationers.

"Tesla will put you on their website and on phone apps and the car computer itself as a location if you have a destination charger," he said. "It's actually a spot on the map, and you put your finger on the screen and it will tell you how to get there."

Evalds said there are only two destination Telsa chargers in Delaware — one at the Biltmore Hotel in Rehoboth Beach and one at the Hyatt Place in Dewey Beach. Both are inside the hotels' enclosed parking garages and are not accessible to the general public.

"Ours will be outside in general parking areas," Evalds said.

Lewes Board of Public Works Director Darrin Gordon said there are generic chargers in Lewes, but all are privately owned and not for public use. He said there are generic public chargers in Rehoboth and Ocean City.

Evalds said Ocean City went from none to 17 in just a year.

Evalds' proposal calls for two Tesla-specific chargers and two generic chargers with J1772 plugs, one of each to be placed at two parking lots in the city — one near Franklin and Schley avenues down the street from Zwaanendael Park and City Hall, and the other in Otis Smith Park across the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal on Savannah Road.

Evalds had pitched the idea to the city twice before, but concerns about possible interference with metered parking squelched those efforts. Moving the chargers farther out to unmetered parking areas apparently alleviated those fears, Evalds said.

OPINION: I love my electric car. Don't get one

"He did approach us first. He was interested in doing it, and we worked with him from the kickoff," Gordon said. "We were interested enough to say, 'Yeah, let's entertain this.' "

The delay was in part due to the dual nature of Lewes government. The Board of Public Works is an independent body governing utilities, but the City Council governs parking and parking facilities, Gordon said.

"The city has all the parking spots, and that's a significant revenue source, and if you've ever been to the beach you will recognize they are a premium," Gordon said. "We definitely want to support electric vehicles and support that technology, but we don't own the parking spots. So that's where we had to approach the city and say, 'Hey, this is what we would like to do. Do you have a spot that we could take without harming you?' "

Gordon said they considered several sites for the charging stations, but because electric vehicles are not common in Lewes yet, there was always a concern whether the immediate loss of income for the city would be offset by the potentially greater draw for electric cars.

"Most of the people in the world and the nation will do most of their charging at home," Gordon said. "But when they travel, they've got to find a place to charge. We want to encourage people to come here, but we want to meet demand and not exceed it."

The city and Public Works are taking a wait-and-see attitude, Gordon said. If the lots housing the charging stations are always full of electric vehicles, more stations will be installed.

The equipment is already "on its way," and Evalds expects to deliver it to the Board of Public Works next week, he said. The city will donate the time and materials for the installation. In addition to donating the chargers and stands, Evalds will pay for the electricity using state rebates, which will cover the entire cost for now, he said.

After that, Avatar Electronics will foot the bill.

"It takes a lot less electricity than people think to charge a car," Evalds said. "Generally speaking, it's not that expensive."

Gordon said \ the chargers on Schley will be an easy install and will be connected to an existing pole. A new pole will have to be set for the ones on Savannah, which will take longer. The installation has been budgeted for $6,000.

"I really hope that we will have this done within 60 days, but in my heart of hearts we will do it in much less than that," Gordon said. "I've been in construction enough that you hope for the best but never bank on it. But we will get them in just as quickly as we possibly can."

Evalds is confident installation will be completed quickly. 

"They're all very excited. We've been working on this for over a year, and now it's coming down to the end," he said. "It's very exciting."