May 26, 2020
In 2020, VLS students and staff returned from holiday break to find nine new EV charging stations set up in our parking lots. That brings the total number of stations on campus to 13—and reaffirms the school’s role as a state leader in offering commercial EV charging access.
The chargers use software to track charging habits and greenhouse gas reductions, information that will help VLS’s Institute for Energy and the Environment (IEE), which commissioned the to monitor and improve campus sustainability. The software was developed by Greenlots, an industry leader in open source EV charging with strong ties to VLS. (Alumnus Tom Ashley JD/MELP’08 is Greenlots’s Vice President for Policy, and the company has offered both externships and full-time employment to VLS graduates.)
“Now is a great time to join your colleagues in eliminating stops at the gas station and plugging your vehicle into the much lower-carbon and more affordable electric grid.” — KEVIN JONES, IEE DIRECTOR
With the new chargers funded by a grant from the State of Vermont and the VLS Green Revolving Fund, VLS has committed to free charging through the remainder of 2020. “Now is a great time to join your colleagues in eliminating stops at the gas station and plugging your vehicle into the much lower-carbon and more affordable electric grid,” said IEE Director Kevin Jones.
Thanks to an additional new grant from the Vermont Community Foundation’s Green New Fund, the IEE is also partnering with a local nonprofit and the nearby Town of Hartford to develop a pilot project to increase local community members’ use of electric vehicles.
The institute’s Master’s and JD students will work with community and EV industry stakeholders to identify and overcome barriers to EV adoption. They’ll propose municipal ordinances and policies to present to the Town of Hartford for their consideration, and will also work to implement pilot project recommendations.