Town of Kensington Installs New Electric Vehicle (EV) Public Charging Stations

By Councilmembers Nate Engle and Conor D. Crimmins, from the Town of Kensington newsletter: In our pursuit to situate Kensington as a leading “green” community, the Town recently installed several public, electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.* The chargers are located at two station sites within the Town – the MARC station parking south of the CSX tracks and the other in the municipal parking lot at Kensington’s Town Hall. Each station consists of four, level-two EV chargers using the J1772 connection standard. The stations were installed and are maintained as part of Pepco’s EV charging station program.

To facilitate the process, the Town Council approved a License Agreement with Pepco in 2021, which allowed for the installation, operation, and maintenance of the facilities on Town property. The stations, which have been operating for several months now, are part of the Shell Recharge network, a nationwide network of over 2,500 EV charging stations. There is no membership fee to register for Shell Recharge; charging rates of the stations is set by Pepco, and currently runs $0.17/kwh. Users may download the Shell Recharge app from their preferred app store to use the charging stations.

The new EV charging stations are intended to help Kensington residents and workers transition to an electrified transportation sector, and in so doing, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, and save money in avoided fuel costs and maintenance. These stations are part of a growing network of public charging stations across Montgomery County and Maryland. The Town will continue to advocate for additional public charging stations to be added to this network over time as opportunities arise. In addition to public charging stations, the Town encourages residents to consider the installation of at-home charging systems, where feasible. Home charging installation does require a permit be filed with Montgomery County. Any questions about the installation of home-chargers can be answered by contacting the Town staff at [email protected] or 301-949-2424.

*Recently, the Town of Kensington established a Sustainable Kensington Team, tasked with identifying and implementing opportunities to improve sustainability of the community, including to seek Sustainable Maryland designation, a statewide certification process supported by a collaboration between the University of Maryland’s Environmental Finance Center (EFC) and the Maryland Municipal League (MML).