City Considers Possible Spots for Electric Car Charging Stations

Rochester officials have already agreed that DTE Energy can install two electric car-charging stations in the city.

Now they need to decide where the stations will go and how users will pay for their charge-ups.

The effort is part of a Department of Energy grant the Detroit energy company received; according to Rochester City Manager Jaymes Vettraino, DTE officials were looking for "forward-edge communities" with downtowns in which to install two of the charging stations.

Rochester City Council . On Monday night, council members heard an update from city officials.

Vettraino said he met recently with DTE representatives to choose potential locations for the charging stations, each of which would require one parking spot.

Vettraino said the city and DTE selected two sites: one in the police station parking lot and one in the downtown lot behind Mr. B's. Both locations are near existing power supplies.

But some council members expressed concerns Monday night about the Mr. B's location, which would be in one of the city's busiest parking lots.

Why not put the spot in a less-traveled city parking lot, Rochester Mayor Jeff Cuthbertson asked.

According to Nik Banda, the city's economic development director, DTE wants the charger in a high-traffic, prime parking lot.

"DTE wants to make a statement and wants us to make a statement," Banda said.

Putting one of the charging stations in the upper lot of the Downtown Farmers Market site is another possibility, Banda said.

He and Vettraino agreed to further explore potential locations.

City Council members also heard a proposal for how users would be charged. Banda suggested installing a parking meter that would be calibrated to charge users $2, which would be the city's cost of a full electric charge.

According to the agreement between DTE and the city, users for these particular stations cannot be charged by kilowatt-hours, but they could be charged a flat fee or hourly rate for the use.

There are already two similar charging stations at the .