Minneapolis and St. Paul Prepare for Electric Cars

Long before spring arrived, Minneapolis and St. Paul began going green. As the first electric cars arrived in the Twin Cities, plans were underway to support the widespread acceptance of eco-friendly vehicles like the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf.

"Electric vehicles are the future," says Anne Hunt, St. Paul's environmental policy director. "A consumer needs to have the confidence that if they're going to be purchasing an all-electric vehicle, that the charging stations are going to be there."

Minnesota's first electric car charging station was installed in November 2010 in downtown St. Paul. It is located inside the parking ramp at the First National Bank Building at 332 N. Minnesota Street.

City officials in St. Paul have since ordered a dozen more of the charging stations, with plans to install them along the new Energy Innovation Corridor light-rail line along University Avenue connecting St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The two cities are partners in a group called Drive Electric Minnesota, which brings together local and state government with private business - including Xcel Energy - to bring electric cars and support infrastructure like charging stations to the Twin Cities. The effort is funded, in part, by federal stimulus money.The partnership plan to install electric car charging stations in parking lots and ramps as well as on city streets in both St. Paul and Minneapolis. Some of these eco-friendly charging stations will also be solar-powered.

Private companies are on board with the concept of going green as well. In Maplewood, 3M became the first company in Minnesota to install electric car charging stations at its headquarters.

"Installing the latest technology to charge electric vehicles at our corporate headquarters was an easy decision," says Jean Sweeney, vice president, 3M Environmental, Health and Safety Operations. "Innovation is a way of life at 3M, and this is a great way to align our culture with a continued commitment to reduce impact on the environment and underline the connection between 3M values and sustainability,"

In the Minneapolis suburb of Coon Rapids, the Kwik Trip convenience store offers an electric car charging station alongside its 16 gas pumps and biodiesel fuels.

Three electric car charging stations are operating at the Mall of America. It's part of a growing trend by retail locations around the country to offer eco-friendly accommodations for shoppers. Minnesota-based Best Buy has also announced plans to test electric car charging stations in the parking lots of some of its stores.

"We see the electric vehicle market as growing," says Mall of America spokesman Dan Jasper. "I actually believe in the coming months and years, it's going to be an expectation of guests wherever they go. I think we're just trying to be on the front edge of that."