Phillips Chevy opens charging station
By Mike Nolan mnolan@southtownstar.com March 13, 2012 8:30PM
Phillips Chevrolet has installed electric-car charging stations at the Frankfort dealership. | Supplied Photo
Updated: April 15, 2012 8:06AM
Phillips Chevrolet in Frankfort has opened an electric vehicle charging station.
The dealership, at the northwest corner of U.S. 30 and LaGrange Road, said the station opened Monday and can charge as many as five vehicles at a time. Use of the station is free and open to the public.
“There’s no charge for charging,” Curtis Pascarella, Phillips’ president, said.
He said the station is solar-powered, and Phillips is leasing it from SunLogic. It can charge any electric plug-in vehicle, not just General Motors’ Volt.
Phillips opened the charging station to promote the Volt — the dealership was the first in Illinois to carry the Volt — and the use of electric vehicles in general, Pascarella said.
He said some electric vehicle owners might use the station to “top off” their charge while others might use it to fully charge their cars.
While the Volt runs on batteries, it also has a gasoline-powered engine as a backup. Some other cars, such as Nissan’s Leaf, are all-electric.
Pascarella said that, in February, Volt sales were up 70 percent nationally compared with January.
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