Lutheran church becomes the site of the first publicly accessible, federally funded charging station

[The Straight Story]

Have an electric car? Come on down to Woodinville church for charging

A Lutheran church in Woodinville has become the site of the first publicly accessible, federally funded, 240-volt electric-car charging station in the Puget Sound area.

The Wooden Cross Lutheran Church charging station is located in the parking lot and open to anyone who wants to use it. Initially, the electricity will be free, said Pastor Woody Carlson.

The station was formally unveiled at a public event Saturday, but it had already been used to charge the Chevy Volt, an electric car with a supplemental gas engine, when the car was on tour through the Puget Sound region two weeks ago. "It was the first public charge of a Volt in the whole nation," Carlson said.

The church is just off the busy Woodinville-Duvall Road, and Carlson said the church expects people will use it to top off their electric vehicles with a two- to four-hour charge. The charging device, made by Coulomb Technologies, can charge two vehicles simultaneously, and can be reserved by using a cellphone application.

The Puget Sound region is one of the key markets for the initial wave of electric cars, in part because of federal stimulus money that is being used to build a network of public charging stations throughout the region.

James Billmaier, an organizer of the Saturday event and electric-car enthusiast, said the Woodinville location makes sense because it's outside the more built-up Bellevue area, making it a good way station for topping off the battery. There's also a cluster of electric-car owners and owners-to-be in Woodinville, and the site is accessible to the public and on a route used by buses, so a driver could plug in a car for charging before getting on the bus to go to work.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2013242750_electric24m.html