DETROIT (WXYZ) — Tim Slusser, the chief of mobility innovation for the city of Detroit says right now, the city is looking at 15 sites to place charging stations for electric vehicles.
He says the city hopes the new sites will support the traffic coming into and around downtown Detroit.
“It’s our most densely populated (area). It’s where we have the most visitors," Slusser said.
Slusser says the majority of his time is being spent on creating fleet conversion to publicly accessible infrastructures. He is hoping these sites are conveniently placed near things like restaurants or coffee shops where drivers can grab a meal and recharge at the same time.
"But that's just the beginning. Long-term we’re looking at how we can create opportunity throughout the entire city of Detroit including all seven districts and all the neighborhoods,” Slusser said.
He says costs will depend on the site and what it takes for DTE to provide power to the site. The site layout will also vary from curbside charging to parking lots.
Professor Erik Gordon with the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business says the government-led initiative is a necessary catalyst.
“I think having the government set up the chargers at government expense is a short-term way to jumpstart chargers. I think long-term it’s going to work as gas stations work. You don’t pull into a city of Detroit gas station. Nobody goes into a government gas station," he said.
Two Tesla drivers say they just hope the charging vendors can keep up with the Tesla charger.
"For me, on average it's about a half hour to charge at these," one EV driver said. "Other non-Tesla, mid-speed charger I'd probably have to let it sit for four, five, six hours to get the same thing."
"They should probably put them everywhere like they do gas stations," another EV driver adds. "You know what I mean? At least like one or two, so a person doesn't have to travel too far."
The city says the plan is evolving.
