With South Portland’s Electrify Everything! program offering rebates on electric vehicles and National Drive Electric Week coming up later this month, now is a perfect time to acquaint – or reacquaint – yourself with EV chargers in and around South Portland.
Spring Street/High Street lot in Portland. Courtesy photo
Last week, I took out an EV to find out where drivers can plug in in southern Maine. I started by researching the chargers in my area on www.plugshare.com – an app and website that connects EV owners to charging stations (and each other) all across the country – where you can find just about every publicly-available charging station.
The charging network in Maine is ever growing, so a resource like PlugShare is a great tool to keep up to date on where to charge.
Looking at the charging network on PlugShare, Maine is covered in green dots, signifying active and public charging stations. Although I couldn’t hit all of the plentiful charging spots in southern Maine (a good problem to have), I had the opportunity to visit and plug in at a few:
South Portland
In South Portland alone, there are sufficient charging spots (with dozens more coming in the next couple of years). Here are some of the places you can find EV charging stations in South Portland:
SMCC Sustainability Center – 3 plugs
South Portland City Hall – 1 plug
LL Bean, Freeport. Courtesy photo
South Portland Community Center – 3 plugs
South Portland Planning and Development Offices – 4 chargers
Portland & beyond
There are also a lot of charging options across the bridge in Portland, such as 10 charging plugs at the Jetport and four plugs, with more on the way, at the Spring Street/High Street lot. Many of Portland’s parking garages also come equipped with a charging station.
Whether you are driving along the coast or headed inland, there are many spots to stop and charge. PlugShare identifies 43 charging locations in Scarborough, 33 in Cape Elizabeth, eight in Old Orchard Beach, 28 in Falmouth and 50 in Freeport, to name a few.
One of my favorite stops along my self-guided and PlugShare-influenced tour of charging stations was the free public chargers at the LL Bean in Freeport. Not being from Maine, I relish Mainers’ affinity for the brand and, in turn, their supply of free charging stations for tourists and locals alike.
South Portland Community Center. Courtesy photo
As EV drivers continue to increase in Maine, so will its charging network. Stay up to date on where to charge at www.plugshare.com.
Our Sustainable City is a recurring column in the Sentry intended to provide residents with news and information about sustainability initiatives in South Portland. Follow the Sustainability Office on Instagram and Facebook @soposustainability.
Mia Ambroiggio is a Greater Portland Council of Governments Resilience Corps fellow serving in the Sustainability Office. She can be reached at mambroiggio@southportland.org.
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