There are dozens of Electric Vehicle charging stations around the Sacramento region, but the one just opened at the Nugget Market in Elk Grove is one of just six "DC fast charge" stations the Sacramento Municipal Utility District has in its service area.
Those stations can get your batteries up to 80% of capacity in a half hour or less compared to the 4 hours or more at your home charger.
Photo by Ryan Harris, KFBK
John Grindrod, SMUD's Drive Electric Program Manager, says to make sure there's nothing dangerous and no concerns even on a wet and rainy day, when you plug in to one of the stations, it'll "talk" to your car. "Hey, is this safe? Is there a short somewhere? Is there a problem?', and if so, it's not going to make that connection," Grindrod said, "So when you plug it in, there's communication going back and forth between the vehicle and the charger, and when everything is safe, it turns on."
Photo by Ryan Harris, KFBK
The stations aren't free. A charge will cost you 24 cents per kilowatt hour, or about the same as $2 for a gallon of gas, where home charging runs the equivalent of about 60 cents a gallon.