Due to a collaboration between Chugach Electric and JL properties, you can now charge an electric vehicle (EV) while shopping or dining at a development in South Anchorage. The equipment became active recently at the complex that houses South Restaurant, Mountain View Sports and other businesses near the Old Seward Highway and O’Malley Road.

The installation was completed with financial assistance from Chugach as part of a research project to gather information about the use of publicly available chargers. JL Properties manages the development with the new charging equipment. Initially there will be no charge to use the charging station, though that may change in the future.

This is the second such facility funded by the program, following Alyeska Resort’s installation of an EV charging station last fall. Two additional businesses in the Anchorage Bowl are planning to complete their charging sites later this year. The installations are for Level 2 charging equipment with universal connectors. An hour of charging can add 25-30 miles of driving range to the batteries of electric vehicles. On the app and website for PlugShare, one of the common ways electric vehicle drivers find places to recharge, the site is listed as “South Anchorage Mall.”

Electric vehicle use is growing in Alaska. Chugach research found there were more than 1,100 EVs registered in Alaska through the end of April, up 5% in three months. Nearly half of those vehicles were registered to addresses in the Railbelt. Electric vehicles can be either all-electric or plug-in hybrids. The all-electric models on the market today commonly have a range of 200-300 miles, while plug-in hybrids run on batteries for a limited number of miles (often 25-30) before switching over to an internal combustion engine. While studies show that most charging is done at home, the availability of publicly available sites like the new South Anchorage installation reduce concerns about range for drivers and enable out-of-town travelers to recharge.

Chugach estimates an electric vehicle driver charging at its residential rate for electricity would save about 50 percent on monthly fuel costs when gasoline is $3 per gallon.