Paige Dalto ’24, associate editor
Notice anything new this semester?
LVC has added four electric vehicle (EV) chargers to the Allan W. Mund College Center parking lot.
After a year-and-a-half-long process of mapping out the installation and technicalities of the project, the stations were installed over the summer of 2023 to ensure that they were ready for use in the fall semester.
“I did some research looking at chargers in our area, and quite honestly, there aren’t a lot of them,” Mike Mumper, executive director of facilities management, said.
The majority of the funding for LVC’s EV installation came as a result of Volkswagen’s emissions scandal in 2015. The company had installed software in their diesel-engine vehicles that could detect when it was being tested and change their emissions to improve results.
Following the scandal, a nationwide lawsuit was filed. The money recovered by Pennsylvania was used for grants to install EV chargers.
LVC’s grant covers approximately 60-65% of the chargers’ installation cost.
The chargers are installed with their own circuits, ensuring that the charging rate stays full for every vehicle using them. The stations have a three-hour limit and charge $2 for the first three hours. If a student leaves their vehicle plugged in past the three-hour mark, there will be a price increase.
Mumper said that the chargers are technically able to be used by the public, but LVC’s charging stations do not appear on any EV charging maps.
“We didn’t necessarily want to have outside folks taking away these resources from students,” Mumper said. “Now, if we had concerts or other events, they’re really available to the public.”
The goal is to gradually add more charging stations to other parking lots on campus.
“The initial rollout is going to give us some data to see how much these things are used, and from there, we’ll figure out deployment across other spots on campus,” Mumper said. “Once we have information that says that there’s a demand for these, I think we would certainly go that direction.”
For students with an EV, the charging stations are user-friendly with a QR code and app. The QR code is located on the front of the charger and provides set-up information. The app allows users to view their charging session, track status, energy usage and cost.
With this addition to campus, LVC furthers its commitment to sustainability and reducing its carbon footprint.