As college students head back to campus this fall, there may be a new feature offered on many of the campuses. In fact, electric vehicle charging stations are growing more and more common across the globe. As more and more EV charging companies begin to offer their products for both personal and community use, there are more and more families considering significantly reducing their carbon footprint when it comes to traveling to and from classes, work, and everyday activities.
On some select college campuses around the country, recharging stations are permanently filled with vehicles that are offered for rent. Paying a fairly nominal fee, students can check out a car for a few hours or a day, allowing campuses to solve the nightmare of providing parking spaces for many students who bring their own cars to campus, but then rarely drive them. Hotel electric car charging stations are also growing popular as more and more tourists realize that they can often rely on public transportation for many of their big city trips. The available cars that can be rented from the hotel provide guests the luxury of having access to a personal vehicle when it is needed, but not have to deal with the hassle and expense of parking and fees when the car is not needed.
Consider some of these facts and figures about the many benefits that EV charging companies are offering with some of their latest products, as well as the impact that this industry has on consumers and the environment:
- Fueling a car with electricity is approximately the same as paying for $1 a gallon gasoline.
- 80% of households in the U.S. that live in owner-occupied housing have access to a garage of carport, a requirement that makes a car charging station possible.
- 20% to 40% of households live in rental housing where an increasing number of car charging stations are being installed.
- Growing almost 40% year by year to 90,302 vehicles, the U.S. electric vehicle market posted a solid first half in the year 2017.
- With more than two dozen models now commercially available, 800,000 Americans have made the switch to driving electric, as plug-in electric vehicles are now viable for most budgets and lifestyles.
- Making the decision to purchase an electric vehicle even more affordable, the U.S. Department of Energy offers a federal incentive program that allows as much as $7,500 in federal tax credits for buying an electric vehicle.
College campuses today are certainly different from the ones a decade ago, but one of the most substantial differences may be the fact that there are now EV charging companies helping make more stations available.
