Michigan State University unveiled two new electric vehicle charging stations at the CATA Multimodal Transportation Center Friday morning. The stations are the first fast-charging electric vehicle stations on MSU’s campus. 

The stations are available for public use and cost $4 an hour. For a standard electric vehicle, it would take about thirty minutes to be fully charged, according to Consumer Energy Director of Electric Transportation Programs Jeff Meyer.

MSU Director of Mobility Judd Herzer said that the new stations will increase efficiency of electric vehicle charging. 

“Having these new fast charging stations here on the MSU campus means more people will be able to charge their electric vehicles in less time,” Herzer said. 

Meyer said that the location of the charging stations is “the most diverse site as far as potential uses” due to the volume of people going to and from the University.

“You may be coming in by train, you may be a ride-share driver who's looking for a fast place to charge while you're picking people up and delivering them around the East Lansing area, you might be a student looking to go home and see your family,” he said. “We fit all of those cases with this location.” 

The MSU College of Engineering developed an optimization model for determining the location of charging stations, which lead the station to the multimodal transportation center, according to Michigan Development of Environment Community Program Director Jennifer Crawford.  

“This research provided us with objective guidance to ensure that we build the foundation of our charging network right the first time around,” said Crawford.  

Michigan leads the nation in electric vehicle investment, according to a 2023 report by Business Facilities. Myer said that there has been a “rapid growth” of electric vehicles in Michigan.

“The state has a goal of two million electric vehicles by 2030, which isn't that far away,” he said. “So that's really rapid growth. And we've been seeing a lot of rapid growth with electric vehicles across our electric territory.”

Crawford said that the journey towards more electric vehicle friendly infrastructure is just beginning. 

“It takes a village to raise a charging station and that's why it's important for us to recognize milestones like today, but our work has really just begun,” Crawford said.