Main Street Park in Dawsonville now has yet another addition: a new electric vehicle charging station installed by Gainesville-based company Indigo Energy.  Recently, North Georgia company Indigo Energy installed a brand-new electric vehicle charging station in Dawsonville’s Main Street Park. (photo courtesy of Indigo Energy)

Colson Rivers, account manager for Indigo Energy, said that the company installed the charging station in collaboration with the City of Dawsonville and at no cost to the city. 

“I’ve been working a lot with the city manager Bob Bolz with this project; I talked with the city council about it and got it all okay-ed with them,” Rivers said. “This was actually done at no cost to the city or the community of Dawsonville; this was simply the city allowing us to put it there at our cost so it was great for the city that they didn’t have to pay to bring this to the community, and we’re excited to have the opportunity for our business as well.” 

According to Rivers, the charging station is a “Blink” brand station and is a very high-powered station, with the highest possible power input that a Level 2 charging station can offer.  Recently, North Georgia company Indigo Energy installed a brand-new electric vehicle charging station in Dawsonville’s Main Street Park. (photo courtesy of Indigo Energy)

"That was important to us was for that to be kind of a future-proof installation that we’re not going to need to come back in a few years as technology develops to increase the amount of power that’s available there,” Rivers said. 

This particular station, he said, can charge vehicles with converters rated for up to 19 kilowatts. To charge a vehicle, the station puts out alternating current and the vehicles’ batteries store it as direct current, so the power and charging speed is essentially limited by each car’s converter. 

“A very common number is that converter is rated for 11 kilowatts, but we’re seeing newer vehicles that have a 19 kilowatt charger, and some older models like a Nissan Leaf have a 7 or a 6 kilowatt converter,” Rivers said. “It’s only been in the ground a few weeks now, but we’ve already seen a Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck come in and it was able to take that full load, or 19 kilowatts, so that was really encouraging to see that although we have in mind for it to be future-proof it’s already being used to its max capacity now.” 

While different cars take different amounts of time to charge, a car like Rivers’ own vehicle, a Hyundai Ioniq 5, could charge from completely dead to fully charged in less than 7 hours, he added.

The station was officially installed and opened the last week in June, and so far he said that the station has seen a lot of traffic.

“We’ve already gotten some usage out of it; we use a third-party app called ‘Plugshare’ where you can leave reviews for a station, so we’ve been getting a lot of feedback there which has been really encouraging as well,” Rivers said. 

Right now, the charging station is usable with a credit card with a tap-to-pay function, or it is also compatible with apps for those who want to connect to it that way, Rivers said. Currently, the station is set to be $3 per hour, but as Georgia laws are subject to change that pricing could also change. 

“Right now in Georgia you have to bill based on time and not based on electricity that’s used which might sound okay but the issue with that is that there are some electric vehicles like that F-150 Lightning that may take the full load of the station which is 19 kilowatts and that’s great, but the downside is that they have to pay the same as a Nissan Leaf that plugs in and charges at a third of that speed, so it kind of creates a disparity there,” Rivers said. “As soon as we can, we’re going to change it to be based on the electricity that gets used there just to make that equal for anybody that plugs in, but right now it’s $3 an hour.” 

The charging station is the first of its kind in the Dawsonville area, and as an electric vehicle owner himself Rivers said that having a charger central in the city is a huge help. 

“I live kind of between Dahlonega and Dawsonville; there’s not much there, so there’s a couple in Dahlonega but they’re a good bit slower than the one we just put in Main Street Park,” Rivers said. “So my wife and I went out to dinner in Dawsonville at that seafood restaurant right by Food Lion; we were there for about an hour and a half and in that amount of time I could have easily gained 65 to 75 miles of range. If you’re commuting to Dawsonville or someone is visiting Dawsonville from a little farther out, you can plug in there and easily make it back to wherever you came from.” 

Indigo Energy is based out of Gainesville and has been pivoting toward the future with a future-focus on renewables in the last several years, Rivers said. As part of the energy company’s mission, it has installed several electric vehicle charging stations like the one in Dawsonville. 

“We do turnkey installations where, say hypothetically the City of Dawsonville wanted to own it and operate it themselves, we help them get that installed and help them with the operations of it,” Rivers said. “And then this station is through our EV charging host program, where the City of Dawsonville is acting as a site host for our charging station.”  Recently, North Georgia company Indigo Energy installed a brand-new electric vehicle charging station in Dawsonville’s Main Street Park. (photo courtesy of Indigo Energy)

The company is looking to continue branching out to install electric vehicle charging stations in even more places, from apartment complexes and retail spaces to cities and office buildings, he said. 

“Essentially, EV charging is a lot more fluid and flexible than a gas station because you can put them nearly anywhere as long and as you have sufficient people passing through that area it’ll be a great spot for it,” Rivers said. “My email address is always open for folks to reach out if they have any projects or they think that they would be a good site host or they’re interested in owning it themselves or understanding the business model or anything like that.” 

The station in Dawsonville, he said, is in a great location because of the ability to plug in a vehicle and leave it charging while the driver enjoys Main Street Park or walks around the downtown area. 

“The park itself has the new disc golf course, the playground, the corn hole; Dawsonville is really doing a lot of work to make the park a destination and I think the charging station also helps with that,” Rivers said. “We’re eager to continue expanding our network and our partners.” 

To learn more about Indigo Energy and electric vehicle charging stations like the one in Dawsonville, go to www.indigoenergy.com or reach out to Rivers via email at crivers@indigoenergy.com.