Economics assistant professor Stephen Barnes drives a car to work every day, but his fuel costs virtually nothing.
Barnes is a member of the small, but slowly growing, group of electric vehicle permit owners at the University.
A little more than a year has passed since Entergy donated two electrical charging stations to the University, and the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation has handed out only four free permits, said Director Gary Graham.
Still, for those who have them, the perks are great, Graham said.
Some of the benefits include free electricity, free parking and a nearly untraceable carbon footprint, depending on how the electricity was generated.
“You have to initially get used to the idea of having a plan for keeping it charged,” Barnes said.
But since he has free, unlimited access to a charging station in the Patrick F. Taylor lot across the street from his office in the Business Education Complex, his transition to an electric vehicle wasn’t too difficult.
Under the current contract between Entergy and LSU, the energy company provides access to the two pump stations, which it installed free of charge, and LSU supplies the power to those who use it.
The experimental project has two main objectives, according to Lauren Stuart, executive director and program coordinator of the greater Baton Rouge Clean Cities Coalition.
It allows the University to monitor the impact of giving away electricity on the utility grid and counteracts what Stuart calls “the chicken and the egg dilemma.”
“Since there’s a limited range, people need the comfort of knowing that there are charging stations available to them and that they’re out and about before they’ll even consider purchasing the [electric] vehicle,” she said.
Baton Rouge didn’t receive full-on electric vehicles until this year, so Stuart said the low permit count doesn’t surprise her.
“They are slowly but surely adding up,” she said. “It was expected that there would be a slow window of adoption.”
Green curbs and modern-looking pumps help identify the two stations, which allow charging for up to four vehicles at once between the two of them.
“These stations are meant to charge for an hour or two,” Stuart said, estimating that a shortage wouldn’t occur until somewhere between 40 and 100 permits had been issued.
Permit holders can reserve charge-time on chargepoint.com, which keeps track of how much electricity each user sucks up.
Barnes, for example, charged about 135 kilowatt-hours of electricity during the month of September, which converts to about $10 or $11 worth of energy based on a rough calculation of 8 cents per kwh, which is what he pays for electricity at home.
However, since the University generates much of its own power, it only paid about 5 cents per kwh over the past 12 months, according to Peter Davidson, director of Energy Services.
The Patrick F. Taylor station racked up 357 kwh of charges since it began operating in summer of 2011. Its cross-campus counterpart in the Hart Lot near Kirby-Smith Hall has only accounted for about 85 kwh of electricity use, according to figures provided by LSU Campus Sustainability.
“The electric vehicle stations are a good step to show our community that there are other options available,” said Arianna Rivera, natural resources ecology and management junior.
Rivera will serve as president of the Campus Clean Cities Coalition organization on campus once it finishes the registration process with the University.
“It’s just a matter of driving a little less — ride a bike, walk, those are all good alternative choices,” Rivera said.