The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC) in Buffalo, New York, is trying a new project out for size, hoping to not only offer employees and community members alike a great perk, but to also support a more sustainable future.
In late 2011, 21 electric car charging stations made their debut—a response to a question that came up when the facility was promoting the construction of a new parking structure. The 2,236-space parking ramp will compensate for growing needs of the campus resulting from its current 2 million gross square feet of building projects; however, when asked how “cars of the future” would be accommodated, the answer fell a bit short.
“It got us thinking that we hadn’t made any accommodations for electric vehicles in that ramp, so that began the discussion between the medical campus and General Electric as to how to accommodate electric vehicles,” says Mark McGovern, project manager at BNMC.
The move to install charging stations for electric vehicles looked to be a great fit.
“We’re a campus of 120 acres, we have 8,500 employees and over 200 PhDs on campus, so a lot of these researchers have pretty good incomes and they are scientific in the way they think, and they also tend to be environmentalists. So they prove to be attracted purchasers of electric vehicles, especially if there was the ability to charge your vehicle while you’re at work here on campus,” McGovern says.
BNMC was able to garner 50% funding for the $300,000 project from a U.S. Department of Energy grant. It’s also partnered with AAA, which was able to secure a tax credit to help offset the remaining 50%.
While an effort to go green and help employees take the same path, the addition of the charging stations is part of a larger plan for the campus. The use of public transportation by employees is highly encouraged, but the facility often hears workers are worried about being stranded at the campus when their child falls ill or an unplanned errand needs to be run.
“We’re looking at these as a way we’ll purchase a fleet of electric vehicles that employees could go and sign out to use for an emergency. They can take them home for a night and bring them back the next day. Most of the commute distances we’re looking at are in the range that these electric vehicles would be ideal for,” McGovern says.
