Burlington Reporter

As America pushes toward getting more people to buy electric cars, the country needs to help establish a broader network of charging stations. A manufacturing plant in North Carolina is answering the call.

Gov. Roy Cooper and Rep. Deborah Ross visited the Siemens eMobility Manufacturing & Distribution System Headquarters in Wendell on Monday, where they emphasized the importance of electric vehicle infrastructure when it comes to cutting down on emissions. 

“I’m excited when I see charging stations being made here on the floor of Siemens, and we’re gonna be using those and deploying those all across North Carolina when we put our charging infrastructure in, so that’s exciting,” Cooper said, as reported on WNCN. 

North Carolina’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory report shows that transportation vehicles account for 36% of North Carolina’s greenhouse gas emissions, so Cooper wants to set the example by having public transportation systems move toward greener emissions.

GoRaleigh has already started down the path of transitioning to electric buses, with five out of its fleet of 105 vehicles powered by electricity. They use charging stations that were made and installed by Siemens. 

GoRaleigh already has six charging stations, but they’ll be upgrading the charging infrastructure over the next few weeks.

Gil Johnson, a consultant for GoRaleigh, told the news station there will soon be 14 charging dispensers.

Johnson said it takes four to six hours for the bus to fully charge, and he said the buses are usually half charged at the end of the day.

“You got to have a way to charge them,” he said. “It’s different than an EV (electric vehicle) in that you really got a lot more battery, and a lot more charging that has to be done.”

GoRaleigh’s goal is to have 25% of the fleet be electric and 75% be compressed natural gas, Johnson said. 

“These, as well as the compressed natural gas buses, are much cleaner to run, are much quieter, and we’re very pleased with it so far,” he told the news station. “It continues to evolve, the technology’s evolving and we’re trying to stay out in front of that as best we can.”

The higher demand for charging stations has been good news for Siemens. The facility added 100 jobs over the past two years and expects to add 50 more jobs next year, the report said.