Electric Car Chargers Coming to Kimball Brown Line Parking Lot
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Electric car chargers will be coming to the parking lot for the Kimball Avenue CTA Brown Line terminal.
The Chicago Transit Authority Board on Wednesday approved a plan to install electric vehicle chargers at the Park and Ride lot at Kimball and Lawrence avenues in the Albany Park neighborhood. They will be the first ever such facilities at a CTA station.
Four of the charging station will be used by the car sharing services I-Go and Zipcars, which are both expanding their fleet to include electric cars. The I-Go charger will include a solar canopy that will generate some of the electricity, according to the CTA.
The solar canopy is 36 feet wide and almost 22 feet deep, covering the equivalent of about four parking spaces. It will be the first ever such installation at a CTA facility.
"CTA has long supported initiatives that reduce emissions and promote sustainability—two main goals of the transit services we offer," CTA President Forrest Claypool said in a news release. "Car sharing is a great complement to public transit."
The Level 2 charging stations will fully charge an electric car between four and eight hours.
They will be among 280 electric vehicle charging stations throughout the area, of which 61 will be used by the car sharing services, the CTA said.
