Citizens Offers Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging to the Public
Citizens Telephone Cooperative (aka Citizens) prides itself on being a leader in technology. The Cooperative has one more year of construction in its fiber-to-the-home project deploying fiber optics throughout Floyd County. This project is making Gigabit (1Gbps) Internet available throughout the rural community. As a technology leader, the company added an electric car to the vehicle fleet. “A 2021 Chevy Bolt that never needs gas and never needs an oil change,” stated Greg Sapp, the General Manager of Citizens. “The Bolt has a range of around 259 miles making it a perfect choice for use in and around the New River Valley.” continued Sapp.
This is a totally different type of vehicle for the company and it is where the industry is headed. How would a company use such a vehicle? The WAN team takes it to work on equipment at a colocation site, Central Office can drive to work at a remote site, and our Business Development uses it to meet with commercial customers across our service territories.
As more electric vehicles are passing through the Town daily, Citizens has installed an EV Charging Station calling it “CitiZap”. As with any new technology, there is a learning curve. There are multiple types of charging stations. Citizens installed a Level 2 Fast Charging Station with an SAE J1772 plug. This type of charging station will fully charge a battery such as in the Chevy Bolt in about 6 to 8 hours. It’s a 240-volt charger (like a clothes dryer connection) and yields roughly 25 miles per hour of charge.
“We want to make charging easy for our customers and guests in our area,” said WAN Technician, Dean Wood. The company’s charging station has two plugs. The EV, CitiZap, charging station has a QR Code on each charging plug. The customer will download the EvGateway App from Google Play or Apple App Store and scan or swipe an RFID to connect, charge, and pay for the EV charge at 20 cents per kWh.
Citizens held an unveiling on July 1, 2022, making the unit available for public use during the Independence Day holiday. Citizens is now listed on plugshare.com, chargehub.com, and other sites when searching online for an EV charging station.
For more information, visit www.citizens.coop or call 540.745.2111. Citizens is a member-owned Cooperative providing telephone, Internet, and TV to Floyd County and surrounding communities for over 100 years. Citizens Business Solutions include customized hosted phone and symmetrical Ethernet offerings. Citizens is located at 220 Webbs Mill Road in Floyd. Lobby hours are 8 am-6 pm Monday - Friday; 9 am - 1 pm on Saturday.
