Electric Vehicle Parking Only

Coulomb Technologies is the company behind the Charge Point electrical vehicle stations. There is only one place in Rogers Park that you can get your electric vehicle charged. 7474 N Rogers Avenue, Gateway Parking Garage aka the CTA Park and Ride for the Howard "L" stop. Second floor on the south side.

There is a Charge Point station (solar powered) at the Uncommon Ground just south of RP (Devon and Glenwood in Edgewater) which was unveiled in June 2013. Most locations have two charging sites like the one here in Rogers Park. In the article the owner of Uncommon Ground is quoted as saying that he has become a defacto spokesman for the Nissan Leaf (100 percent electric) by answering all the questions from curious patrons.

There are currently 554 quick-charging stations, and more than 15,000 slower "level 2" public charging stations across the U.S., Nissan estimates.

Last edited 1/15/14 7:48 pm

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Nearby Evanston has a total of six stations. The closest Charge Point location to RP is at the new green Walgreens at 635 Chicago (two chargers). That station notes that the price is free. At the charge point site you can search for stations and sign up to buy one.

Wikipedia has a great section on charging stations in general. How much does it cost to charge? Not sure. The Charge point site says that many stations are free. Otherwise you have to call the owner (toll free number on the station itself). This station in Rogers Park accepts credit cards like Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover.

Plugshare is another site where you can search for charging stations. Using this site to search Rogers Park doesn't yield any other charging stations though.

This particular model appears to be the CT 2003 model; the wall mounted version. It is a level 2 charger and has an 18 foot cord. These type of stations can charge a car over 5-6 hours.

More and more auto makers are jumping into the electric car craze. BMW, Porsche, Tesla, VW, Cadillac, Mercedes, Kia. The Chevy Volt was the first American plug in electric hybrid car to gain widespread attention.

The Facebook page of Charge Point gives one a lot of background information. We haven't heard too much about electric vehicles or their charge stations in part because it just hasn't caught on here yet. This link has the top ten electric vehicle cities. Number one is SF, five are in California, there is one in the Midwest though ,Detroit.

CBS discussed the addition of electric vehicle stations at IIT in 2012. In the article it states that there is one high speed station that can give a car a full charge in 15-20 minutes. The other six stations are the standard level two that take 5-6 hour to deliver a full charge. Also in the article is a link to an announcement of a new charging station for the Kimball CTA Brown Line parking lot. Sparkenergy.com's blog post states that this particular charging station is solar powered.

Electric vehicles and charging stations haven't reached the tipping point yet here in Illinois. But that is sure to change. We only have two electrical vehicle charging stations in all of Rogers Park. Maybe Pritzker will decide to put some in her new garage?

Speaking to Charge Point (1-888-758-4389) itself revealed that charging cars in general is more expensive on the east versus west coast. West coast stations tend to be free. The representative couldn't give this writer anything more specific about the cost of charging a car at this particular location. He did give an example that the Hinman Avenue station in Evanston charges 2 bucks an hour. Some stations  (for example) charge 17 cents per kilowatt But they are sending a card to Chevanston. Never know when it might come in handy.