Need to recharge your battery?
Stop in Derby.
A manufacturing business on Roosevelt Drive is offering free electric car charging to drivers passing through the area.
Thomas Harbinson, owner of IDA International, started the give-away in September as he looked for creative ways to use up extra electricity from solar panels at his manufacturing plant.
Harbinson’s “charge station” is nothing more than a glorified, higher voltage outlet, but Harbinson said he hopes the move will inspire other businesses to follow suit by installing charging stations for the public.
“This isn’t some wacko liberal concept,” Harbinson said. “This can actually happen. It can be done.”
Extra Electricity?
IDA International, a company that manufactures building facades, installed solar panels about a year an a half ago.
The panels soak up sun all year long. Any excess power is fed into the grid and IDA International racks up credits to use during less sunny months.
If the panels produce more electricity than the company uses during the year — which is the case at IDA International — the utility company cuts a check to IDA for about 5 cents per unused kilowatt hour, Harbinson said.
But Harbinson said solar power isn’t about rebates.
“The real value isn’t to generate electricity to sell to the utility,” Harbinson said. “We had this extra electricity. We wanted to use it in a different way.”
Using The Power
Once the company determined it would consistently produce more power than it needed, Harbinson began looking for new uses for the electricity.
IDA first switched its water heater from natural gas power to electric.
Then Harbinson purchased an electric car, to test the waters and see if it would someday be feasible to have electric delivery trucks.
He installed a 220-volt plug at the factory site, and charges the car — an all-electric Tesla Roadster — while he’s at work.
Even with the changes, the company was still making about 114 percent of the electricity it needed, Harbinson said.
So Harbinson sent out an open letter to electric car owners, via the IDA International blog: Stop by the factory, “top off” your battery and enjoy the sites of Derby while you do so.
“There might be a Yale rowing meet at the Yale boat house (a block away on Roosevelt Drive),” Harbinson said. “Maybe if some guys come up from Princeton, they could charge their car while watching.”
“What if someone wants to spend some time going to Osbornedale, eat at Roseland Pizza,” Harbinson continued. “There’s a lot of gems around you need to get people to linger at.”
Harbinson has had two people take him up on the offer — including Michael J. Sexton, the senior sales adviser for Tesla.
Sexton, who is based in New York, said he travels through several states providing test driving events for potential customers.
“Tom has a convenient spot for us to recharge while we’re in the New Haven area,” Sexton said.
Sexton said because Teslas can be charged using any plug, he doesn’t necessarily need a special station to top off.
Energy Friendly State?
Sexton said Connecticut is a friendly state for electric car owners.
In September, New Haven’s Chapel Square garage, beneath the Omni Hotel, installed a free “juice bar” for electric car charging. More charging stations are slated for other city garages.
This past summer, Chevrolet announced plans to include Connecticut as one of the first markets it will sell its new electric car, the Volt.
Northeast Utilities and United Illuminating Co. are both working on building car charging stations in the state.
