Evanston and the non-profit car-sharing company I-GO are looking to put the sun to work charging the company’s fleet of four electric cars in the city.
Evanston’s City Council signed off on a plan this week for the city manager to enter into a licensing agreement with I-GO to install solar canopies and electric vehicle charging stations in two city-owned parking lots – though one of the locations is still up for debate.
I-GO currently offers 11 vehicles in Evanston and claims more than 500 Evanston members. The company received grant funding through various agencies to deploy 36 electric vehicles with solar charging canopies across the Chicagoland area.
“The solar canopy project, the reason that we’re doing it is we want all our vehicles to be the lowest emission,” said I-GO CEO Sharon Feigon. “If we’re going to have cars out, we want them to have the smallest footprint, and electric vehicles is the way to do that.”
The total cost of installing the solar canopies would come in at more than $250,000, but Evanston would not pay any of that, according to a city staff memo. I-GO would agree to pay an $80 monthly lease fee for each parking space used.
Each canopy would cover four parking spaces, with two being used by I-GO electric vehicles and two remaining for the general public. Feigon said the possibility exists for creating charging stations in the other two parking spaces for use by the general public.
The original plan called for the two solar canopies to be installed at the city’s Lot 4, located at Central Street and Stewart Avenue, and in Lot 27, located at 621 Oak Ave. across from the U.S. Post Office.
While aldermen agreed to move forward with Lot 4, I-GO has asked to remove Lot 27 from the list.
“The problem at the post office lot is that it’s a little more unknown for us, and this is a big infrastructure investment,” Feigon said. “Once we put all this in, we’re committed to being there. If it doesn’t work out, we’re stuck.”
The company did have car-sharing vehicles near that location, Feigon added, but had to remove them due to insufficient usage.
Feigon proposed installing the second solar canopy in the city parking lot located near the Evanston Public Library Main Branch. However, Ald. Judy Fiske, 1st, asked for more time to discuss that location with residents and business owners in the area.
The lot, according to Fiske, is heavily used by a number of organizations and properties in the area.
“I think it’s one of the higher utilized lots in the downtown,” she said.
Aldermen agreed to approve the lot on Central Street, and to discuss the second lot location at the Oct. 10 city council meeting.
