Otter Tail Power Company Partners With University Of Minnesota, Morris To Provide Electric Vehicle Charging Station

Otter Tail Power Company partnered with the University of Minnesota, Morris to provide an electric vehicle (EV) charging station for campus students, professors, visitors, and guests. Drivers can find the Level 2 32-Amp charging station in the North Parking Lot, near the campus Welcome Center.

Charging is free for all users. “Electric vehicles are becoming more common in our service area, and working with local organizations to provide charging options is important to us,” said Otter Tail Power Company Market Planning Manager Jason Grenier. “Whenever we can find strong community support combined with local project partners, we believe it’s a good opportunity for EV chargers. We’ve seen increased interest in Morris, so we’re working with local partners to install an additional Level 2 charging station in the downtown area. EVs are the future. We’ll continue to see more cars and chargers in our communities.”

The ChargePoint CT4000 7.2-kilowatt charging station is compatible with all plug-in vehicles and can charge two vehicles at once, taking approximately seven hours to provide a full charge to the all-electric Chevrolet Bolt. “It costs us only about $7 in electricity to travel to the Twin Cities area and back in our Bolt,” said University of Minnesota, Morris Vice Chancellor of Finance and Facilities Bryan Herrmann. “And with a 230-mile range and charging stations available in the Twin Cities area, we easily can make overnight trips to the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities for training or conferences.”

Drivers can find the charging station on PlugShare and ChargePoint, applications that share locations of EV chargers.

Photo caption: University of Minnesota, Morris Sustainability Director Troy Goodnough points out information on the ChargePoint electric vehicle charging station screen.