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Electric Vehicle Charging Station Debuts at Smith Warehouse

First station available for community to park up to an hour to charge

This parking spot and charging station is open to any Duke community member for use to charge their electric vehicle. The spot, located in the North Lot at Smith Warehouse, allows for one hour of free parking for those who charge their cars. Photo courte
This parking spot and charging station is open to any Duke community member for use to charge their electric vehicle. The spot, located in the North Lot at Smith Warehouse, allows for one hour of free parking for those who charge their cars. Photo courtesy of Alison Carpenter.
By Bryan Roth

Duke community members who drive electric vehicles have a new way to keep their cars charged.

This week, Parking and Transportation Services and Facilities Management unveiled a new Eaton DC Quick Charge station for vehicles that use electric power in Smith Warehouse’s North Lot visitor parking area. Along with a free charge, Duke community members and visitors who drive electric vehicles will have hour-long, free parking in the spot. Access to the North Lot and the station is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but Duke community members will need a valid parking permit on nights and weekends.

The “level three” charging station provides 50 kilowatts of power, which can supply up to 80 percent of a battery’s charge in 30 minutes or a full charge in 45 minutes to an hour. This is the first station available for campus community use. There are four charging stations by the Bryan Center, but those are dedicated solely for four Chevy Volts that are part of Duke’s Enterprise CarShare fleet.

Alison Carpenter, manager of Duke’s transportation demand management program, said the new station was provided through a grant from Raleigh’s Advanced Energy, with materials supplied by Nissan. The station is useable for vehicles with a CHAdeMO charger plug, which includes some models made by Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru and Tesla. Motorists should check their vehicle’s guide for compatibility.

“At the start of every academic year, we get requests from electric vehicle owners about where they can charge their vehicles, so we’ve been monitoring for the opportunity to get a station on campus,” Carpenter said. “It’s important for us to offer this service to folks who want to reduce their carbon footprint with non-emissions vehicles.”

Maintenance of the charging station will be handled by Facilities Management staff and Parking and Transportation Services will monitor use to gauge potential for future installation of charging stations elsewhere on campus.

For more information about the new charging station, contact Alison Carpenter at alison.carpenter@duke.edu.