On Monday, November 14, 2016, the EV charging stations at Catoctin Mountain Park near Thurmont, Maryland will open for public use. The park has received financial support from the Geller Family Foundation through Adopt a Charger to fund the electricity used by visitors to charge their vehicles.
As we reported in August, Catoctin Mountain Park installed charging stations in November, 2015 but later learned of a policy that National Parks with electric vehicle charging equipment could not provide the electricity for charging at the taxpayers’ expense. The Park was unable to find an acceptable solution for taking payments and attempts to get a waiver of the policy had failed. The staff at the park had redoubled their efforts to find a solution when they were approached by Adopt a Charger and their donor.
Adopt a Charger is a nonprofit organization that helps speed the adoption of electric vehicles by helping to provide EV charging stations which are “adopted” by sponsors. Corporations, organizations, and individuals donate funds to install and maintain charging stations at parks, museums, and other public places.
The initial funding to purchase and install the electric vehicle charging equipment was provided by a grant from the US Department of Energy’s Clean Cities program in partnership with the National Park Service.
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