PORT ANGELES — Clallam County courthouse employees will be able to charge their electric vehicles after the county commissioners awarded a contract to Hoch Construction for two charging stations to be installed later this year.
The contract is for $128,655. The project will be funded by a $67,890 grant from the state Department of Commerce and one of the county’s Real Estate Excise Tax funds.
Rick McFarlen, the county’s deputy director for parks, fair and facilities, said Hoch’s bid was a little over budget but they were able to get the funds to proceed.
The project shouldn’t take long once the contractor gets the parts, he said.
“I gave them 240 days, but it shouldn’t take that long,” McFarlen said. “Once they get all the parts, it shouldn’t take more than a month or two.
“So they will wait until they get all of their parts in before we start breaking ground and making a mess. We’ll make sure they have everything lined up and ready to go.”
A policy hasn’t been developed yet about whether courthouse visitors will be able to use the chargers or only employees. Nor has a cost for the using the stations been established.
The two Level 2 stations would be located along Fourth Street where traffic pulls in. A Level 2 EV charging station uses a 208-240-volt power source and a dedicated circuit — potentially up to 60 amps.
A Level 1 will deliver about 1.2 kW to the vehicle, while a Level 2 charger ranges from 6.2 to 19.2 kW, with most chargers around 7.6 kW.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached by email at brian.gawley@soundpublishing.com.
