NEW ORLEANS — The City of New Orleans is teaming up with Entergy to build as many as 56 charging stations for electric cars in the city. But before the city installs them, it wants opinions on where they should go.
“It’s become a real national trend. A lot more people are driving electric vehicles,” Laura Bryan told WGNO. “they’re interested in driving electric vehicles.” Bryan is the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Transportation.
The city will install six of the charging stations. Entergy will install the rest. The work will take about two years to complete.
But before any of the stations are built, the city wants input from the public on where to put them, and not necessarily from people who live in the city. Bryan says that the goal is to install the charging stations where people who work or play in the city can also use them.
“The ones that Entergy is going to be putting in, initially there won’t be a fee, as far as we understand. Ours, there shouldn’t likely be a fee either. We’re working all those details out now,” Bryan said.
A growing number of car makers have announced that they’re going to add electric cars to their product lines. The city expects to see more people purchase them, and it wants to have the infrastructure in place.
“The big thing is the visibility. They’ll see them,” David Stets told us. Stets is the head of the Sierra Club in Louisiana. He says that as more people see the growing network of charging stations in the city, they’ll be more inclined to buy one of the cars.
If you would like to participate in the survey to select locations for the charging stations, click here.