OGDEN -- Ogden City is providing new infrastructure for drivers utilizing electric vehicles -- and it's only the start.

On Monday, city officials held a "Plug-In Celebration" to mark the opening of a vehicle charging area in the visitor's parking lot of the Ogden Municipal Building, where four Level 2 charging stations were installed.

"Those are open to the public as well as city staff or anything like that for two hours at a time. And, right now, they are free to use," Lorenzo Long, sustainability coordinator for Ogden City, told the Standard-Examiner.

He said the charging station project was a collaboration with Rocky Mountain Power and was aided by the company's EV Infrastructure Program.

"This kind of came about slowly over time," Long said. "There were suggestions from many people that the city should look into putting in some charging stations, including some members of the City Council and the administration as well. So the city decided to really look into it, found this partnership with Rocky Mountain Power that could help us make it happen and we were able to do that."

Long said the two-hour limit likely will not be enough to fully charge most electric vehicles, also called EVs. However, "That will give you a good bit of charge while you're here," he said.

According to Long, there are plans for the city to add additional charging stations as part of two ongoing projects.

"We already have plans to add new EV chargers at the currently under-construction Marshall White Center and also at the WonderBlock development," he said. "Those charging stations will be in the park structure that is going up at WonderBlock."

Long said the proliferation of charging stations that are open to the public gives residents and visitors more of a choice when commuting in the city.

"Not everybody has a place to charge at home," he said. "This is just one more place they can go to to charge their vehicle. That gives people options. If they want to drive an electric vehicle, this is making it a little easier for them."

And these new EV stations, he added, will have another far-reaching impact in the future.

"The shift to electric vehicles in general will, over time, really help our city as the tailpipe emissions will go way down," he said.

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