At last night’s Newport Beach City Council meeting, Mayor Marshall “Duffy” Duffield proudly announced the addition of 20 EV charging stations around Newport Beach. On Tuesday, Mayor Duffield, City Council member Diane Dixon (District 1, Balboa Peninsula) and other city officials attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Newport Coast Community Center to launch the energy-efficient initiative.
The charging stations are located at four city facilities—Newport Beach Civic Center, Marina Park Community & Sailing Center, Oasis Senior Center and Newport Coast Community Center—and are available on a first-come, first-serve basis, ranging from $1.85 to $2.10 per session.
“These [electric] cars are here to stay, they’re fabulous the way they operate,” Mayor Duffield explained during the council meeting Tuesday, adding that he too owns an electric car. He also said, discernible pride in his voice, the new stations didn’t “cost the city any money.”
The stations, priced at $170,000 total, were fully funded by private and public money: $85,000 came from an Air Quality Management District grant; $69,000 from EVgo, the nation’s largest public, DC charging network; and $16,000 from the Newport Beach general fund.
Mayor Duffield said the stations are important for electric-car owners who need to “get [themselves] back with some miles in [their] car.” He also urged the sizable city council crowd to consider going electric for their next vehicle. “I[I’m] hoping one day eventually you can eventually plug in.”
