Electric vehicle charging stations available at museum parking lot
Electric car owners will finally have a place to plug in other than at home in Cedartown if they need a quick charge, at least while they are out and about downtown.
Pull into the lanes bordering Philpot Street in the parking lot for the Cedartown Museum of Coca-Cola Memorabilia, and drivers will find some strange looking stands in front of several spaces.
Those are meant for cars like the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt or products from Tesla and other manufacturers now and in the future to be able to get a charge while parked in the lot.
Responsible for the change is a partnership between the Morris family, owners of the Cedarstream Company and operators of the non-profit Cedartown Museum of CocaCola Memorabilia, and the City of Cedartown, Georgia Power and Tesla.
Cedarstream co-owner Jamie Morris said the change is one that has been in the works for many months, and now Tesla will add the charging stations to the network, allowing for each of the company’s vehicles to register the new charging location.
“We’re hoping that adding these will make Cedartown a destination for electric cars,” he said.
Morris added that he felt as the technology matured, having the chargers would be beneficial not just now, but five years onward when more begin showing up on roadways near and far.
The chargers allow for Tesla and other electric cars to charge up while parked downtown without any cost so that when their batteries are running low on juice they have somewhere close to their destination to stop.
The Cedartown chargers are the first Tesla-specific plug-in stations in Northwest Georgia, Morris said.
“We’re on the cutting edge of the technology here in Cedartown,” Morris said. “Rome, Cartersville, Carrollton doesn’t even have it yet.”
Most of the new charging stations are designed for use with Tesla vehicles, but two on each end of the strip of parking spaces can be used for other types of electric vehicles, and have multiple plug-ins .
Work wrapped up in past two weeks on the final electrical connections for the charging stations, with the ribbon cutting held on June 19 as the stations went into full operation.
Morris said the station is now the closest plugins to I-75 and I-20 for those drivers with a Tesla or other electric car who need to charge, and the hope is that will lead to additional tourism coming to Cedartown.
“The idea is that when people come to charge their cars, they’ll maybe stop for a while at the museum, or go have lunch at Pirkle’s (Deli,)” he said.
The next closest charging stations otherwise are in Buckhead or across the state lines in Oxford and outside of Gadsden, Ala., and Chattanooga, Tenn., that are Tesla-specific. However more are being added all the time, with a slate of metro-Atlanta area charging stations coming later this year and into 2019.
There are some charging stations in Rome, the Cart- ersville area, Kennesaw, and Chattanooga, but those aren’t specific to Tesla vehicles and thus provide the company’s specifically designed capabilities for Tesla-based batteries.
According to the company website, charging with a Tesla-specific plugin for 30 minutes provides enough battery power to continue on a journey, but didn’t specify how long it lasts in mileage.