By ED SALVAS
Asbury Park drives into the future with the area’s first Electric Car charging stations.
Mayor John Moor, members of the City Council and others were on hand last week for the ribbon-cutting at the first EV charging stations on Mattison Avenue between Main and Bond Streets.
The Mattison Ave. stations, called mobility hot spots, are the first of three that will be located in Asbury Park. They are being installed and managed by Greenspot Smart Mobility of Jersey City. Company Chef Operating Officer Michael Mazur said Asbury Park is the first town in Monmouth County using the new technology city wide. Two more charging stations will be available in the next few months, on the beachfront at Kingsley St. and Sunset Ave and on Mattison and DeWitt Ave. on the west side.
Greenspot’s Mazur sad the project is being funded by a grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection. Mayor John Moor praised city Transportation Planner Michael Manzella for his efforts in putting together the deal with Greenspot.
Each station will have spaces to charge four vehicles at a time. The cost is $2 an hour and for each hour of charging the car can go about 25 miles, according to Greenspot’s Mazur. The rate drops to 75 cents an hour to charge overnight. That’s to encourage owners to leave their vehicles longer for additional miles. Mazur said he’d like to eventually have 100 EV charging stations in Asbury Park.
The use of electric vehicles is also a boost for the environment, according to Joseph Grillo of Sustainable Jersey. Grillo, also an Asbury Park resident, said this is the kind of project they love to see, and noted that Asbury Park is moving up in Sustainable Jersey’s Energy Rankings and now is rated a “Silver Community” by the organization.
State Senator Vin Gopal said Asbury Park is taking the lead in many areas and that is being noticed.
“People are talking about Asbury Park all over the state,” Gopal said. The city also launched a scooter sharing program this year and a bike sharing program has been operating for two years.
Greenspot’s Mazur knows it’s an uphill battle to move people into fully electric cars. Electric Vehicles represent only 2 percent of all the vehicles on the road today.
