Work will begin Monday to install 14 Blink Electric Vehicle (EV) chargers at four City facilities, including City Hall Parking Garages 1 and 2. According to Murfreesboro Principal Planner Margaret Ann Ely, the EV chargers are co-sponsored locally by Murfreesboro Electric Department, four electric vehicle charging stations will be installed in City Hall, two on each of two parking garage levels; four at Sports*Com, two at Old Fort Park and two on the City’s parking lot at the corner of E. Lytle and North Spring streets.

Tennessee is only one of nine states and the District of Columbia chosen to participate in the new initiative begun by ECOtality, a company dedicated to the promotion of Smart EV Charging Solutions, according to its website. Supported by a DOE grant and sponsored by a host of companies that include Nissan of North America and Chevrolet, the program will initiate installation of the 14 Blink EV chargers for public use.

The Level 2 charging systems like those being planned citywide charge EV’s in four to six hours utilizing 220-volt, Direct Current power, Ely explained. EV chargers are already available at several locations throughout the city, including MED and the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce. ECOtality is installing chargers in major cities and metropolitan areas throughout the states of California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Texas, Tennessee, Illinois, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

The program is the largest single deployment of electric infrastructure in history, according to company literature.