Garage to add charging stations

COEUR d’ALENE — The city of Coeur d’Alene will have three new, taxpayer-funded electric car charging stations in its new downtown parking garage by next summer.

Council members agreed Tuesday to spend $8,500 to install three charging stations at three parking spots reserved for electric cars in the new garage.

The car chargers were included in the original plan for the city’s four-story parking garage, a $7.3 million project on the 300 block of Coeur d’Alene Avenue that was completed last year.

Of the 380 stalls in the garage, three were already set aside for electric cars, or hybrids, and wired for recharging stations, said Chris Bosley, the city’s engineer.

But the charging stations, like the cross-arms and pay kiosks, were not part of the construction.

“It allows us the flexibility to go with what would work best for us, and at the time it works best for us,” Bosley said.

The parking fund would pay for the charging stations. It costs about 80 cents to charge a car.

Although the city has a few charging stations at spots near Interstate 90, including one on Seltice Way and one on Fruitland Lane, a downtown station open to the public could draw visitors to the heart of the city.

“This is a service, similar to a bike pump station,” Mayor Steve Widmyer said. “We get a great deal of visitors from the Seattle area, and this is a nice service to have.”

Over the past couple years, 1,064 electric cars were registered in Idaho and 84 were registered in Kootenai County, while more than 35,000 were registered in Washington.

“It could be considered for locals, or maybe it would be an attractant for people from other places,” Bosley said.