Peterborough unveiled charging stations for electric vehicles in the town’s Riverwalk parking lot Friday, the culmination of a joint project between the Peterborough Energy Committee and town staff.

“They’re finally here. We’ve been waiting for so long,” said Dori Drachman, a member of the committee. The chargers, which were expected to be installed in the fall, arrived from the Netherlands in January, and their installation was delayed to spring to avoid weather-related damage. 

Bruce Tucker, another member of the committee, was the first person to use the new charging station on Thursday, charging his blue Tesla Model X. The chargers cost $1.50 per hour of charging, and require an app to interface with the machine. 

“It’s fantastic to finally have it installed,” he said. “It’s nice to be first, but what’s most important is the second, third, fourth, 200th.”

Tucker is not the only committee member to drive an electric car. Emily Manns, chair of the committee, charged her Honda Clarity plug-in hybrid on Friday.  According to Manns, this new ability to charge electric vehicles in Peterborough is the result of years of work, starting in the fall of 2018.

“The Peterborough Energy Committee had just started to meet, and we were looking for specific projects we could do together,” she said. One of those ideas was to put a charging station for electric vehicles in the downtown area, an idea that happened to coincide with the construction of the Riverwalk parking lot.

Two weeks later, the committee had permission to move forward with the project, spots allocated for charging in the new parking lot and conduits in place for the chargers. The group was approved to use $35,000 in Greater Downtown Tax Incremental Finance (TIF) funds for the installation, operation and maintenance of up to four chargers. Part of the idea of using TIF, Manns said, was to position the project as a way to pull in visitors to Peterborough’s downtown. 

“We started with saying that we wanted this for visitors, to bring people with new cars and cash in their pockets and goodwill, and have them feel welcome and stay for a couple of hours,” said Manns. Since the chargers are relatively slow, visitors would likely have to spend time in town while their vehicles charge, something Manns said Peterborough’s downtown is well-equipped to help with. 

Manns said the chargers will show up on maps and apps that electric-vehicle owners often have to locate chargers. 

“Around us, there were no chargers, and we wanted to be on that map,” she said. “I think that’ll be an advantage to have people be curious about our town.”

The chargers also fill a need, according to supporters of the project. Drachman said some electric vehicle owners in the area don’t have the ability to install chargers at their homes, and chargers in the area are often few and far between.

"We were literally in the midst of a wasteland," Select Board member Bill Kennedy said Thursday. "There is nothing around for us." 

“Our mission is to remove barriers to moving toward a clean energy economy,” said Manns.

Drachman said there are different levels at which to do this work, but that the best is the local level. 

“State and local action is really the sweet spot,” she said. “And in New Hampshire, local action is really the sweet spot.”

The committee also complimented town officials, including Kennedy and DPW Director Seth MacLean, for helping make the project easier to navigate. 

“That’s exactly how it’s supposed to work at a local level,” said MacLean. “It’s not always the case that you have a committee and staff working in concert to learn and bring this thing forward.”

The chargers are now available to all electric vehicle owners who want to use them. To celebrate their installation, the committee plans to host a Drive Electric Event on first Friday in May, where they will invite people to bring their electric cars.

“They can talk to people about their cars, some owners will let people go for a ride,” said Drachman. “We’ll invite people who are interested in getting an EV to come and learn.”

Bill Fonda contributed to this story.

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