103 charging stations coming to Austin

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin's city-owned power company announced Wendesday that 103 charging points for electric vehicles will be spread around town from college campuses to supermarkets.

Austin already has 32 charging stations, including those at City Hall and Zilker Park, and is one of just nine cities across the country that is part of the ChargePoint America program .

According to Austin Energy , there will be 36,000 plug-in electric vehicles, or PEVs, cruising the city’s roads by 2020, and the company’s proposal would ensure that they have access to fuel.

Six months of unlimited use at one of these stations will cost $25, making the cars better for the environment, as well as for drivers' wallets. But will the time it takes for people to charge their cars put them off?

Many Austin residents commute around 40 miles a day, and at the new Level 2 PEV stations, this journey would need up to three hours of charging. A full charge on some of the current models of PEVs takes up to eight hours.

Despite this drawback, AE is confident the new charging stations will make the switch to electric vehicles a little easier:

“This network of public charging stations will make it possible for electric vehicles owners to ‘top off’ their batteries at locations easily accessible from almost anywhere in Austin,” said Richard Morgan, AE's green building and future technologies manager.

“It should go a long way toward making our customers feel much more comfortable driving electric cars," he said.