What’s up with electric vehicles and charging stations in Cumberland?

Community partners in Fayetteville and Cumberland County are teaming up to boost local electric vehicle infrastructure and consumer interest. 

Despite a rocky start to the year, EV sales, as well as hybrid vehicles and hybrid plug-ins, increased nationwide in the second quarter of 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The cost of EVs and hybrids have also dropped an average of 12.8% since last August, Forbes reported, as dealers look to boost sales. In North Carolina, the number of EV owners has continued to increase. Gov. Roy Cooper announced in April the state had already surpassed its initial goal of 80,000 zero emission vehicles on the roads by 2025.

Locally, EV usage and EV chargers are also increasing, according to Trinity Vetere, project coordinator at Sustainable Sandhills, who is organizing a local EV car show to be held in October.

“I see a lot of progress, and I see a lot of use” of EVs in the Sandhills region, Vetere told CityView. 

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, electric vehicles generally produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline cars, since they do not have tailpipe emissions. 

While EV chargers rely on the U.S. power grid, which primarily uses fossil fuels to generate energy, the EPA notes that renewable energy is increasingly being used in the power grid, which will further reduce carbon emissions from charging EV. Some solar-powered chargers are being rolled out across the country.

Vetere, who coordinates and leads Sustainable Sandhills’ activities on air quality, emphasized the public health benefits of EVs, which produce less ground-level ozone that harms human health. 

“A lot of those vehicle emissions that our combustion engines create are going to interact with chemicals in our atmosphere, create ground level ozone, which can lead to smog,” Vetere said. 

According to data from PlugShare, which tracks and maps EV chargers throughout the country, there are 132 EV charging stations in the Fayetteville metropolitan area, including 10 free chargers. The Public Works Commission has four free EV charging stations throughout Fayetteville. The City of Fayetteville also offers four EV chargers to the public, including three in the Franklin Street deck, and one at the Fayetteville History Museum. 

Local government efforts to increase EV usage and infrastructure have also been ramping up in recent months. The new parking deck Cumberland County is constructing behind the courthouse will include 30 electric vehicle chargers. Cumberland County Schools was also awarded a federal grant earlier this year for two electric school buses. 

Fayetteville is also working to increase EV charging infrastructure. In July, the city received a $6.6 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration for four electric buses, two additional charging stations, and two charging dispensers. Those four electric buses are expected to start operating in mid-2025, according to the City of Fayetteville. 

Local governments and community partners in Fayetteville and Cumberland County are working together to boost local EV infrastructure and consumer interest. One example of this partnership is the biannual EV car fair hosted by Sustainable Sandhills, in partnership with PWC, National Drive Electric Week, Fayetteville Technical Community College, Fayetteville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization and Fayetteville-Cumberland Parks & Recreation. 

The show will allow local EV owners to display their vehicles, plus provide educational and engagement opportunities for people who want to learn more about electric and hybrid vehicles, Vetere said. Dealerships will also be present to showcase EVs, Vetere said, and attendees can take test drives around FTCC. She said local dealerships are “hungry for an opportunity to meet the people who want to buy an electric vehicle.”

Last year, a woman who went to the show surprised a local dealership by ordering an EV after attending the fall show last year, Vetere said. 

“There’s a Cadillac Lyriq that’s featured on this year’s flier, and that Lyriq was actually purchased by a lady who came to our EV car show last October, test drove a whole bunch of different dealership cars that were there at the car show, and then went to Cadillac and said, ‘Order me a Lyriq,’” Vetere said. 

While up-front costs of EVs are still higher than their gas-powered counterparts, the long-term benefits of owning one continue to be documented. For example, a study in April by automotive research company Vincentric found nearly half of all EVs are cheaper to own than a gas-power car over a five-year period. 

Vetere emphasized the long-term benefits of owning an EV, such as saving money on gas and maintenance — and the benefits of charging vehicles on public infrastructure, especially in walkable areas like downtown Fayetteville. 

“Something that I want to draw attention to is if you are spending less money on gas, the average person has more money to spend on things like really wonderful cups of coffee and local businesses,” she said. “And if you are [spending money in those ways instead], the economics of waiting for a car to charge and the location of the charging port kind of also helps on a local scale, the local economy.”

Challenges

The Fayetteville Fire Department is also getting ready to tackle new fire safety challenges that come with increased EV usage and infrastructure. Fire Chief Kevin Dove said EV fires are exceedingly difficult to put out.

“We have not had one yet in our city, but when we do — and we will — electric vehicle fires are almost impossible to extinguish,” Dove said at the Aug. 26 Fayetteville City Council meeting. “They pretty much are going to go out when they want to.” 

Dove said the department plans to install special blankets in the new parking garage the county is building behind the Cumberland County Courthouse for the new Crown Event Center, and in Fayetteville’s parking deck on Hay Street. The blankets are essentially large tarps that smother EV fires and keep them from spreading to the concrete, he said. The blankets will allow the fire department to transport the vehicle out of the parking deck, “saving millions and millions of dollars in structures.” 

Another challenge with EVs, Vetere said, is a lack of knowledge about the technology. Many people are unfamiliar with the capabilities of electric vehicles, how to charge them, and whether they can meet their specific needs. To address this, Vetere recommends that anyone interested in purchasing an EV should start by talking to an existing owner.

“Talking to a community member who has had to drive long distances, who does make that trip from here to Raleigh and back, talking to community members who live that on a day-to-day basis is a good way to either hear what you need to hear in terms of whether an EV is correct for you right now, where the technology sits.”

Contact Evey Weisblat at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com or 216-527-3608. This story was made possible by donations from readers like you to CityView News Fund, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization committed to an informed democracy in Fayetteville and Cumberland County.