The City of Hawthorne has installed six new electric vehicle charging stations that city employees can use at three government sites: the police department, public works headquarters, and city hall. Each site will host two charging stations.
These stations provide roughly 25 to 30 miles of range for each hour that a vehicle is plugged in. This level of power output will allow drivers to top off their batteries within a few hours. Even if a driver plugs in a vehicle with a battery charge dwindling close to 0%, they should be back to a full tank of charge within 8 hours.
These OpConnect charging stations are intended for city employee use and were installed by city staff. The City of Hawthorne also partnered with Southern California Regional Energy Network to obtain grant funding and to install citizen charging stations in communal spaces throughout Hawthorne. Jim Thorpe Park will be the first main site for citizen stations; this park installation project is currently in the plan review stage. Additional citizen charging stations will be installed at Memorial Park.
In addition to facilitating the charge of its own fleet, Hawthorne’s Building and Safety department has created a streamlined permitting process for all charging stations. Residential single families, multi-families, and commercial applicants can access additional permitting information via the Building & Safety webpage.
“We’re excited to meet the growing demand for electric vehicle charging stations,” said City Manager Vontray Norris. “Reducing harmful air pollution from exhaust emissions is a key City goal. Hopefully, we’ll be able to increase station availability even more in the coming years.”
For more information about the City’s green initiatives, visit the environmental programs page at https://www.cityofhawthorne.