Overland Park will place electric vehicle charging stations at two of its most popular visitor amenities in the southern portion of the city.
The city will install two new dual-port EV chargers at Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead and two more at the Scheels Soccer Complex. That will allow up to four total vehicles to be charged at once at each location, getting an average of 20 miles for each hour spent charging.
On Monday, the Overland Park City Council voted 7-2 to approve the bid tabulation, awarding the installation project to L&B Services for about $175,500.
Councilmember Melissa Cheatham, who drives a plug-in hybrid, said she sees the four charging stations and these other efforts as “consistent” with “the climate goals that this council has agreed to” with its decision to sign on to the KC Climate Action Plan last year.
Looking back:
- Overland Park purchased the four dual-port charging units last year, accepting $120,000 from the Kansas Department of Transportation to help cover some of the cost.
- Now, the city has bid the installation element four times. Two previous rounds yielded no bidders, and the city rejected bidders from the most recent round in June.
Overland Park is still working on an electric vehicle master plan
- The city is still developing strategies for electric vehicle charging stations, such as whether to charge vehicle owners to use them and where more chargers may be appropriate, if at all.
- The city’s 2023 strategic goals call for the creation of a new Electric Vehicle Master Plan.
- Engineering firm Olsson is consulting with the city on the plan’s development, which kicked off in January.
- It could also establish rules for using the city’s charging stations and set out strategies for converting the city’s vehicle fleet to EV over time.
Mosher, Cox oppose city’s involvement in EV charging
- Councilmembers Scott Mosher and Jeff Cox cast the dissenting votes.
- Cox questioned whether the city should be getting involved in the business of building EV charging infrastructure at all since it doesn’t own any gas stations.
- Mosher echoed that thought, although he said he would have supported the installation if the city had made a decision already on whether or not to charge for use of the stations.
- In 2022, the city council voted 10-1 to accept money from KDOT to purchase the charging units. At the time, Mosher voted with the majority of the city council to approve that agreement.
- Councilmembers Sam Passer, Faris Farassati and Scott Hamblin were absent from the meeting on Monday.
Related news: Overland Park expands street maintenance program for 2024