By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
The two Glasgow Electric Plant Board electric vehicle chargers collected roughly $6,000 and was visited by people from more than half the States from March to Dec. 2024.
The two fast charging stations are located in the parking lot of the South Central Kentucky Cultural Center. The public utility company began installing the two stations in 2023 with a “celebration of expansion” following in April 2024.
Based on the EPB electric vehicle charging stations’ updates, the total project cost was $183,432.07 with 80 percent being paid for by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which is EPB’s electricity provider. The city of Glasgow paid $25,000, according to the documents, leaving the EPB to pay $11,686.41.
Ten months later, in Dec. 2024, EPB’s remaining payoff was $9,238.78. During this same time period, the stations garnered a total of $5,950.70 and was visited by people from 28 states — some from as far as California and Washington.
“I’d say across 5 years it’ll probably pay itself off. Once it’s pay off, it’ll be time to replace them and we’ll start all over,” Communication Director Aaron Russell said in a prior interview.
Blue states represent states reported on the EPB EV charging stations’ updates. Graphic made by Glasgow News 1
Of that $5,950.70 total, $1,934.84 was profit, according to the documents.
“We look at this as a gift, bringing this technology to the city,” Russell said. “We didn’t look at this and go ‘oh, this is a great money-making opportunity’ because we know if we they pay themselves off that’s great, but if we have to replace them before that payoff happens it’s whatever [but] this was just a great opportunity.”
“We’re engaging with this new technology but also we’re bringing something here for Glasgow,” he added.
At the 2024 ribbon-cutting ceremony EPB Superintendent Dave Puskala said these stations would also bring traffic to the downtown area. The documents show a lag time between charging durations and stay durations, which Russell said indicates people leaving their charging vehicles. For example, in June 2024 — which had the most station use — had an average charge-stay discrepancy of one minute
“That’s where we see people get out, plug up and go up to Yancey’s, [Fine Arts] Bistro, or meeting somebody [downtown],” Russell said.
Russell said the usage of the stations have steadily increased, going from an average of one daily visitor in the first months to two or three by the end of last year. Some of that, he said, was likely due to the stations inclusion on the Electric Vehicle Charging Station Locations map, compiled by the U.S. Department of Energy.
