Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – April 26, 2024 – The two EV charging stations that City Water & Light maintains in downtown Jonesboro are being utilized, but not by a large number of people.

The stations opened in 2022, one at the intersection of Union Street and Madison Avenue and the other at 219 E. Monroe Ave.

“The revenue collected during 2023 was $660 and year to date in 2024 is $330. “At this point, the chargers are providing a service to our EV customers. In addition, they are helping us analyze and plan for the development of EV’s and public charging stations in Jonesboro,” CWL said today.

“Users are charged $3.46 per hour too use the chargers. An hour is good for 65 miles,” Slade Mitchell, spokesman for CWL, said.

“The stations cost $21,000 to install, and CWL was reimbursed $18,900 from a state-run grant,” Slade said.

“The rebate was higher because we put it on public property,” he said.

Some local businesses, such as hotels, have EV charging stations available primarily for their regular customers, but City Water and Light and the City of Jonesboro have teamed up to place some chargers in public parking lots.

The city of Jonesboro has 45 public charging stations, one of which is a free EV charging station. Jonesboro has a total of 14 DC Fast Chargers, seven of which are Tesla Superchargers, according to the website plugshare.com.

Embassy Suites at the Arkansas State University campus and the Hilton Gardens are two hotels with stations for their customers. A couple are located at car dealerships, and several are at the Kum & Go at 3920 Southwest Drive, the website said.

In April, the Arkansas Department of Transportation has chosen services stations in Jonesboro and Trumann as award recipients for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Program in response to the 2023 Request for Proposals (RFP).

Authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the NEVI Program provides funding for projects to build a national network of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations by 2030 along federally designated Alternative Fuel Corridors (AFC).

In Craighead County, the Love’s Travel Stops at Interstate 555 and East Parker Road was awarded $700,000 for EV charging stations.