Watertown buying 2 electric vehicles, charging stations

WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) - Watertown says some city-owned vehicles will soon charge up with kilowatts.

City Manager Ken Mix says the purchase of two electric vehicles and installing charging stations is part of the city’s budget.

One vehicle will go to the water department, and the other to the sewage treatment plant.

“The state has put in place some mandates for that, but they expect that things will go fully electric on some things by 2035. I think we’re just getting ready for it. Start slowly,” said Mix.

The city plans to buy a charging station with multiple ports for different electric vehicles.

“We will be installing charging stations at the water treatment plant and the sewage treatment plant,” said Mix.

One pedestal charging station with two plug-ins will be installed at the sewage treatment plant and two wall mounts will be installed at the water treatment plant...

Currently, the city only has two vehicles in its budget, but the charging stations could charge a total of four vehicles at once.

Mix says it’s a challenge to get the vehicles.

“We’ve been having problems on getting anybody to actually bid on them. They’re very difficult to come by,” he said.

An electric vehicle owner, who would only identify himself as Rich, says once the city has its hands on the vehicles, it can look forward to saving some money.

“It’s easy for you to get 300 to 400 miles on an average car. For most businesses or most government services that’s probably enough. They just plug it in at the end of the day. Like I said, we’re saving hundreds of dollars every month,” he said.

Mix says the city hopes to have both the vehicles and charging stations up and running by this summer.

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