So you’ve done the environmentally-friendly thing and bought an electric car because you don’t want to spew greenhouse gases all over your community. What happens when you need to fill up, so to speak? You don’t find electric charging stations on every street corner.
Avista is working to develop charging stations around its coverage area. A couple of months ago it opened one in downtown Rosalia, about halfway between Spokane and Pullman. That one has room for four vehicles. Two spaces have what Avista calls its DC Fast Charger. Drivers can plug in, go grab something to eat and be on their way in a half hour or so. The cost is 30-cents-a-minute.
Other charging stations are in the planning stage, says Rendall Farley from Avista. He is the manager of electric transportation. He took us to see the cars charging in the parking lot behind Avista’s headquarters in Spokane.
To find places you can plug in now, he suggests plugshare.com, where you can find a map of electric vehicle charging stations in the Northwest.