Rosalia's Texaco to get electric charging station

--Nanette Konishi photo

The Rosalia Texaco station, a popular tourist destination, will soon offer an electric charging station for vehicles.

Rosalia's Texaco station will soon be getting a little boost not only to the station, but one that will benefit residents and visitors in the area.

Avista Utilities is in the early stages of installing a fast-charge charging station for electric cars at the Rosalia Texaco, a converted visitor's center on Whitman Avenue.

Mayor Nanette Konishi said she is excited to gain this asset.

“The charging station is kind of frosting on the cake from what we did all those years ago to take the tanks out and turn it into a visitor's center,” she said.

Konishi said that process was started in 2001, and since then the station has been a tourist attraction as well as a hot stop for photographers. In an e-mail to the Gazette, Konishi said signage on Highway 195 will direct motorists to the electric charging station, which will be the first such station for Whitman County.

“It's pretty exciting,” said Konishi, adding that Avista is in charge of the project and timeline. She said she hopes it will be installed before the end of the year.

Avista program manager of electric transportation Rendall Farley told the Gazette the company chose Rosalia for its location and proximity to the highway. He said some of the criteria for installing the electric charging station through a two-year pilot program were to have the town or city be close to a main highway, close to electrical infrastructure, have amenities nearby and to be strategically located geographically.

“Rosalia's a perfect stop,” Farley said. “It's about halfway between Spokane and Pullman, and when you're taking a longer trip, you need to have a faster charger. It looks to be the best initial corridor to electrify.”

Farley said that if things go well, the station could be up and running by as early as the fall, but the timeline may end up going into next year. He said the charger, called a DC Fast Charger, has the capability to charge an electric vehicle at 50 kilowatts.

“A car can get from 20 percent up to 80 percent in about 20 minutes,” he said.

Konishi said she thinks an electric charging station will benefit businesses in town, as motorists will be attracted to the station and likely shop or eat in town while there. The charging station will also not interfere with the veteran's park located behind the station, or other plans the town is hoping for that space.

“There's still enough space there,” Konishi said. She added that there is still the hope for a garage behind the Texaco station to house a vehicle museum and a town farmer's market.

“We ran out of monies for that and energy and grants,” Konishi said. “But we're ready to gear up and go after some more grant money.”

Farley said that during the two-year trial period, Avista will install seven electric charging stations at strategic locations – three of them being DC Fast Chargers.

“EV adoption is relatively low in our area,” he said. “We don't expect high usage initially, but we think that will grow over time.”

Farley also said Avista hopes to install a number of home and work chargers during the pilot program.

“Most of the charging, about 80 percent, people will do at home, and about another 15 percent at work,” he said.

Avista will also be completing studies and collecting data “for the next several years,” Farley said. He added that he hopes this program leads to a different energy future.

“Driving electric means being a part of a less expensive and cleaner energy future,” he said. “I'm super excited about this. It will be good for EV adoption.”

Avista will be paying for the equipment, installing it and maintaining it in Rosalia. Farley said the company expects the charger to have about a 10-year lifespan, and he added that the hope is to install a second DC Fast Charger in Rosalia when electric vehicles become more prevalent, noting the site will be fitted for that when the initial charger is installed.