City looking at options to install electric car charging stations

CHEBOYGAN — As electric cars are becoming more popular around the country, the City of Cheboygan is looking into different options for the potential of installing several charging stations throughout the city.

Cheboygan City Manager Dan Sabolsky has received questions over the last several months at the Cheboygan City Council meetings as to whether there has been any sort of momentum towards bringing the stations to town. It was most recently brought up at the Aug. 24 council meeting.

“There were preliminary discussions with a private developer about a partnership, but nothing has been worked out yet,” said Sabolsky.

If this partnership were to move forward with the private developer, the city would have to provide a location for the stations to be installed. However, any locations for the stations have not been set in stone.

“I would like to see them in the downtown, or by city hall,” said Sabolsky.

Sabolsky has had conversations with a representative from Consumer’s Energy. That representative put him in touch with a community in the state who has used grant funding to install several of the charging stations in their area.

By using the grant funding, the city would be responsible for the installation of the charging stations, as well as the maintenance and providing the electricity to run the machines.

There is also a private developer who goes out into different communities to build the charging stations, leasing land from the communities, to provide the service.

Sabolsky said at the end of August he would be following up with both avenues, to start having the conversations around what it would take to bring the charging stations to the area.