(Norwalk, Conn.) Today, December 8, 2022, Mayor Rilling was joined by Live Green CT, JuiceBar, Eversource, and federal, state and local leaders at Fodor Farm to Celebrate Norwalk’s First Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Station on City Property. 

“The City of Norwalk is committed to installing green infrastructure to reduce our carbon footprint and enhance our environmental resiliency efforts,” said Mayor Rilling. “The installation of our first Electric Vehicle Charging Station on City property will be a vital resource to Electric Vehicle drivers and encourage more people to consider using more environmentally friendly modes of transportation. We know that climate change is one of the biggest threats we are facing and increasing access to renewable energy sources is one of the many ways we can protect our environment for future generations.”

The installation of the EV Charging Station at Fodor Farm is a result of a partnership between the City of Norwalk, Live Green CT, JuiceBar and Eversource. The City collaborated closely with Live Green CT, a Clean Cities coalition that works to advance affordable, domestic transportation fuels, energy-efficient mobility systems and other fuel-saving technologies at the local level.

"The charging station project at Fodor Farm was an extraordinary collaboration between our organization, the City of Norwalk's Recreation and Park's Department, Eversource and JuiceBar that has long-lasting benefits to the community,” said Daphne Dixon, Co-founder and Executive Director of Live Green Connecticut.

The City of Norwalk and Live Green CT utilized JuiceBar’s services to advance this effort, a global company based in Norwalk that builds EV charging infrastructure. JuiceBar has been committed to building EV charging infrastructure since 2009, and its products can be found in hundreds of cities throughout North America. 

“We manufacturer our EV chargers in Connecticut, so we are especially pleased to support Connecticut’s transition to electrification, and especially when that occurs in our hometown,” said Paul Vosper, Chief Strategy Officer of JuiceBar. “It is also important to acknowledge the critical work that Daphne and Live Green are undertaking to ensure that underserved communities in the state have access to, and benefit from, this technology.  This is especially important since those communities are disproportionately affected by pollution and climate change and with the severe health and economic impacts that brings.”

The City utilized Eversource’s Connecticut Electric Vehicle Charging Program to receive the necessary funding for this project. Eversource’s engineering team and operations staff installed the meter posting board, concrete bollards, and the base for the station and made sure all the wiring and connections worked properly. As a result, Fodor Farm was added to the list of public charging station locations in CT. It will also be registered on several apps that EV owners use to find charging stations, including AmpUp, a leading EV software setting operating system. AmpUp is easily accessible to electric vehicle owners, allowing them to find available charging stations and even reserve a space and time to charge their vehicle.

“We’re delighted we’ve been able to help the City of Norwalk add Fodor Farm to the list of public charging station locations around the state – a list that will have more than 2,000 sites on it by the middle of 2023,” said Enoch Lenge, Eversource Connecticut EV Lead. “The state’s charging station program and its incentives are designed to make installations easy and more affordable, and this installation is a great example of what happens when a customer, its energy distribution company and a charging station manufacturer work together to make things happen. Interest in EVs and the charging station installation program continue to grow and we’re excited to be a part of this move toward clean transportation.”

The City of Norwalk has two EVs and recently converted the majority of its fleet to hybrid. Additionally, the City approved the purchase of 10 hybrid vehicles for the Norwalk Police Department earlier this year. There are currently 682 electric vehicles registered in Norwalk that can benefit from this new EV Charging Station at Fodor Farm.