This week’s opening of four electric vehicle recharging posts in Green will be a welcome stopping spot for electric vehicle owners, no doubt.
The new stations are just a small drop in the rapidly expanding network within the county and across the U.S., but they augur far more about what’s on the way.
More public recharging stations, faster stations and growing numbers of EVs with a need to charge away from home base.
For now, however, the number of EVs on county and U.S. roads remains small.
According to a DriveOhio report from June 2020, the number of EVs nationwide is expected to climb from about 2 million currently to 18.7 million by 2030. Sales are forecast to rise to 3.5 million vehicles in 2030, accounting for 20% of all U.S. vehicle sales.
According to Third Solar Sun, one of the state’s top solar rooftop installation companies in Ohio, Summit County ranked fourth in Ohio with 1,249 EVs last year. Franklin County, with 4,154 vehicles, was first.
Despite the relatively small numbers, the infrastructure to charge EVs is expanding quickly.
The Pew Research Center reported in June 2021 that the number of publicly available charging stations nationwide had more than tripled since 2015, from about 32,000. By the end of the decade, the number of such stations is expected to be between 800,000 and 1.7 million.
Buoyed by state and federal grants and a growing need to quickly charge the limited-mileage vehicles, new stations are popping up throughout the county. Currently, EVs now available for sale have a wide range of travel capability. They can travel anywhere from 100 miles to 400 miles on a full charge, according to a Nov. 19 report from Car & Driver.
Green charging ahead
The fastest-growing city in south Summit County also has the most charging stations per-capita in the county, and that’s not likely to change soon. The city hosts Akron-Canton Airport in its borders and is committed to expanding the number of recharge stations. Private companies that operate in the city are on board, too.
A U.S. Department of Energy map highlights several existing stations in and around Green’s borders.
To the north, Fred Martin Nissan has a single port at its South Arlington Road dealership. On the south border of the city near the Akron-Canton Airport, at least five multi-port stations are already in place. On Massillon Just north of Boettler Road, both the Cambria Hotel Akron and the Shops of Green host charging stations, the hotel with one port, according to the USEPA map, and the Shops with two.
Rick Rebadow, CAM Inc. vice president of business development, said the charging station at Shops of Green make sense from a business standpoint. The stations won’t initially pay for themselves, but they provide an amenity that will become more