In October, Harrisonburg will become the first city in the Shenandoah Valley, and one of only a handful of cities in the state, with a public, Level II electric car charging station. Located behind Harrisonburg Electric Commission (HEC) in downtown Harrisonburg, the charging station will provide citizens with clean energy for their electric vehicles and attract drivers of electric vehicles to the district.

A ribbon-cutting event and unveiling will be held on October 5 at 10 a.m. in the HEC parking lot. There will be electric cars to test drive, including the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt.

The electric car charging station was brought to Harrisonburg through the dedication of a number of entities including the HEC, David Miller through the Downtown Dining Alliance (DDA), Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance (HDR), Eaton Corporation, Virginia Clean Cities and Rexel.

Virginia Main Street (VMS) is interested in sharing the model of bringing charging stations to the heart of downtown districts to attract traffic to retailers and restaurants.  If your community is interested in pursuing this strategy, contact Virginia Main Street Program Manager Jeff Sadler at Jeff.Sadler@dhcd.virginia.gov.