Salt Lake Leaders Celebrate Utah’s Largest Electric Vehicle Charging Installation

This Tuesday, local business Packsize International unveiled its new electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at its Salt Lake City campus.

The site now hosts 52 total EV charging ports, including two fast-charge stations, making it the largest charging installation in Utah.

And the best news is that the stations will be available for use at no financial cost both to Packsize employees and the general public. 

Rocky Mountain Power awarded Packsize International with a $111,280 incentive check to offset the cost of the Level 2 electric vehicle chargers. These EV incentives are available to any Utah company that wants to install charging infrastructure! 

Packsize is a leader in sustainability and forging solutions to our local air quality problems.  It spearheaded the creation of a non-profit, Leaders for Clean Air, in 2015 to encourage businesses to install charging infrastructure. Because vehicles are the largest source of wintertime air pollution and EVs have no tailpipe emissions, incentivizing employees to make the switch to an electric vehicle by offering workplace charging is a tangible way businesses can get involved in promoting better air quality.

Leaders for Clean Air now has an alliance of dozens of businesses and has helped catalyze the installation of 184 workplace EV charging stations in the last two years.

At the ribbon cutting, Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski, along with other Leaders for Clean Air founding members, provided updates on the clean air advancements and future goals for Salt Lake’s airshed. Leaders for Clean Air also presented a charging unit to Attorney General Sean Reyes, who spoke at the event.

Mayor Biskupski and Rep. Patrice Arent, Clean Air Caucus founder & Chair, demonstrate how to use a new Level 2 EV charging unit at Packsize’s campus.

“Vehicles contribute to around half of the pollution that obscures our skies and chokes our lungs during inversions,” said Mayor Biskuskpki. “That means we need to do everything we can to get out of our cars. It also means creating new solutions for people and businesses, and working together to forge ahead on such cooperative efforts.”

The Mayor noted how such cooperative efforts are necessary to achieve clean energy goals. “The City and Rocky Mountain Power have a Joint Cooperation Statement in place that highlights our shared vision for a capital city powered by renewable energy,” the Mayor said.

Part of this plan includes an 80% reduction of community carbon pollution by 2040, where electric vehicles will play a major role. To learn more about the Climate Positive plan and the Cooperation Statement go to www.slcgreen.com/climatepositive.

The Rocky Mountain Power EV Incentive Program provides up to a 75 percent rebate to incentivize Utah businesses to install chargers at their establishments. Since the program launched in June 2017, 129 new electric vehicle chargers have been installed along the Wasatch Front.

“Our poor air quality—including what we’ve experienced this month—is caused—yes—by the weather and geography,” said Mayor Biskupski, “but the weather and our geography are not excuses. We must care what we put into the air and we must control what we put into the air.”

Electric vehicles– along with more mass transit, bike-friendly infrastructure, smart urban planning, and efficient buildings– are an important part of the solution.

Further information:

Deseret News story, “Salt Lake company unveils State’s biggest battery of electric vehicle chargers”

For more information on Salt Lake City’s public charging stations, click here.

For a list of all charging locations, visit Plugshare.