Ruby Falls, Rock City and the Incline Railway will be the first sites in the Chattanooga area to offer charging stations to owners of electric vehicles.
"The message people in Chattanooga need to hear is that infrastructure [for electric cars] is coming and it's coming soon," said Stephanie Cox, director of ECOtality, the company responsible for implementing the stimulus-funded EV Project plans in Knoxville, Nashville and Chattanooga.
"People interested in buying electric cars need to let us know, so we can take their interests [location and driving habits] into consideration while we're building out this infrastructure," she said.
In October and November, 37 Blink smart-charging stations will be set up in the greater Chattanooga area to prepare for the December release of the Nissan Leaf and the 2011 launch of the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt.
PLUG IN HEREPublic charging stations wish list:* 76 for Hamilton County* 4 for Bradley County* 6 for Catoosa County, Ga.* 6 for Marion County* 3 for McMinn County* 4 for Grundy County* 137 for Knox County* 91 for Davidson CountySource: Chattanooga Office of Sustainability, ECOtalityFAST FACTS* Today's fuel cost for an electric car is expected to be about 3-5 cents a mile.* Today's fuel cost for a gasoline car that gets 30 mpg is about 8.5 cents a mile.* The average U.S. driver travels 40 miles a day.* The Nissan Leaf's range on a full charge is 100 miles.* About 16,000 people nationwide signed up and put down $99 deposits to buy the $32,000 Leaf.* Early-bird buyers will receive tax and other credits to bring the cost down to about $20,000, according to national reports.Source: TVA, ECOtality
Over the coming year, officials plan to install about 1,500 stations across the state and extreme Northwest Georgia at rest areas, welcome centers, malls and big-box stores. Another 1,000 charging stations will be put in the homes of early-bird buyers of the all-electric Nissan Leaf.
Chattanooga, with its electric buses, is a good fit for electric cars, said Tom Dugan, executive director of the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority, which owns the Incline.
"Offering vehicle charging at the [Incline's] St. Elmo parking lot is a natural next step," he said in a prepared statement.
Cox said Chattanooga's "aggressive marketing" as a sustainable city also made it the ideal place for the first announcement and the installation of Blink stations.
She said each of the Lookout Mountain-area locations will have two "standard" commercial chargers capable of bringing an electric car to full charge in one to three hours - about the time a traveler might spend taking in the sights at the region's signature tourist attractions.
ECOtality Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, received federal stimulus grants totaling $15 million from the Department of Energy to manage the EV Project and install the Blink stations and home chargers of early-bird electric car buyers.
The federal grants are matched by private investment, bringing the total value of the project to about $230 million, Cox said.