The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

Beaumont, Texas – Entergy Texas, Inc. and the Lamar Institute of Technology plugged into the future Wednesday, March 21 with the unveiling of a newly-installed electric vehicle charging station in the institute’s parking lot.

It is the first electric charging station Entergy has installed in the Golden Triangle. Two other stations are already installed, one each at Texas A&M University in College Station and Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. A fourth will be installed at Lamar University.

In Beaumont, LIT will allow students and faculty of both the Institute and Lamar University to use the charger at no cost. Entergy Texas will collect usage data for research about the chargers’ impact on consumers and the electric grid. Eventually, members of the public will be able to make use of the charging station also, a consideration that figured into where LIT officials chose to locate it.

“Electric vehicles are gaining widespread acceptance as an important technology solution for the nation’s energy future,” said Vernon Pierce, customer service director, Entergy Texas, Inc. “But infrastructure must be in place to support the evolution of the technology. We hope our donation of EV chargers to schools in Texas will help start that process.”

The next generation of affordable, consumer-friendly EVs—such as the Chevrolet Volt, which was used to demonstrate the LIT charging station courtesy JK Chevrolet, or Nissan Leaf—are becoming more common in the U.S. market. A total of 3.2 million plug-in electric vehicles are expected to be sold worldwide by 2015, according to Pike Research.

In recognition of that, Entergy’s Environmental Initiatives Fund provided for a total of 17 chargers to be installed at colleges and universities throughout the Entergy service area. Donating the chargers will help Entergy learn by doing while helping advance the technology at institutions such as Lamar Institute of Technology.

The charging stations are currently capable of providing a full charge to any electric vehicle on the market. They were donated by Entergy and paid for by Entergy shareholders.

“We are very excited that Entergy Texas has selected LIT as one of the locations for the installation of this charging station. We are very pleased that LIT can help Entergy Texas ‘learn by doing’ and that we can partner with them to provide this new technology and community service for those attending and visiting our college,” said Dr. Paul J. Szuch, LIT President.

“We appreciate the support of Entergy’s Environmental Initiatives Fund and shareholders’ approval to fund this project,” Dr. Szuch said. “Thank you to Robert Turner and

JK Chevrolet for their use of a Chevy Volt for the charging demonstration.”

“We truly appreciate all that Entergy Texas has done to support Lamar Institute of Technology, our students and our programs.”

The chargers are manufactured by Coulomb Technologies and are part of Coulomb’s ChargePoint Network, the largest EV driver network in the world. The company has network

operations centers in the U.S., London and Hong Kong.

Entergy, Inc. delivers electricity to more than 400,000 customers in 27 counties. It is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation. Entergy is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, and it is the second-largest nuclear generator in the United States. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

Lamar Institute of Technology, a member of The Texas State University System, is a two-year college offering two-year associate’s degrees and certificates in more than 50 programs. The Institute also offers non-credit courses and certificates, contract training, workforce development training, continuing education and lifelong learning opportunities for individuals, businesses, government and industries.