BISBEE, Ariz. (KGUN) — With the growing popularity of electric vehicles, Cochise County officials felt like they had to adapt.
It's why they sought out grant funding to purchase seven dual-port electric vehicle charging stations to install across the county.
“It helps connect us to the rest of Arizona, and it gives us more transportation choices within Cochise County,” said Development Services Director, Christine McLachlan.
Cochise County received $500,000 from a federal grant to buy the chargers. The 2024 grant was through the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure.
"This made it a lot easier for a county like Cochise to be able to afford it, and to make it an affordable option for people in Cochise to fuel up their vehicles,” said McLachlan.
They can be found in Bisbee, Sierra Vista and Willcox. They are strategically placed to provide access to the most people working in the surrounding businesses.
"We wanted to have equal access to different parts of the county. We tried to pick our most populated areas,” said McLachlan. "These and strategic locations like (Cochise County's) primary office, like near a hospital, it does make recruitment of professionals a little bit easier. They've come to expect finding chargers and infrastructure that is capable of fueling their vehicles nearby."
McLachlan said this is an opportunity to grow tourism, since more people are driving electric vehicles.
"More and more Arizonans are choosing to drive electric vehicles, and they're looking for convenient places where they can charge either while they're shopping or while they're doing other activities,” said McLachlan.
The county is also making money each time someone plugs in.
“What it costs for the county is generally about 12 cents a kilowatt hour...we'll charge a few cents above that, and that's revenue for the county,” said McLachlan.
She said the hope is to continue adding chargers within the county.
"It's going to continue. It's gonna be just part of our overall infrastructure network, I think; more options make electric vehicles more of an option for people in Southern Arizona,” said McLachlan.
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Alexis Ramanjulu is a reporter in Cochise County for KGUN 9. She began her journalism career reporting for the Herald/Review in Sierra Vista, which she also calls home. Share your story ideas with Alexis by emailing alexis.ramanjulu@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook.
