The future is here: electric car charging stations are on campus.

Southeastern is not alone – several colleges and cities have benefited from grants awarded by the Department of Environmental Quality. 

Charging stations will also be on other campuses, including Xavier University, LSU, Southern University, Centenary, SOWELA Technical Community College, Nicholls State University and LSU at Shreveport.

Sustainability manager Alejandro Martinez shared some details about the stations and their locations.

“There are two stations on North Campus. One is inside of the Sustainability Center, and the second is by the sunflower,” he said. 

The charging stations were placed on campus in February 2021, and the preparation for these stations started about four years ago, according to Martinez. 

Martinez explained that the stations are a great addition to campus as they will make those with electric cars feel more included.

He said, “We decided to do it because it’s new science and technology. For those people with electric cars, we want to provide for them and give them the opportunity to charge their car.”

Martinez said he believes that these new stations will significantly increase the desire for those wishing to visit campus – whether it is new students or visitors in general.

“Eventually we will have more people who are looking for this, thinking, ‘Wow, I need to charge my car. I can do it here.’ We do believe it’s going to bring not only students but also visitors because there are no other charging stations in the Hammond area. Other than Target, we are the only people that have a station,” he explained. 

Martinez said he believes these stations will encourage people to come from the interstate and visit campus. 

Dean of the College of Science and Technology Daniel McCarthy shared information about the charging stations and how he thinks they will affect the appeal of Southeastern’s campus.

He said, “I don’t know how widespread plug-in hybrids are with students right now. I think it sends a really good message to the community about the concern about our campus and the direction we’re taking. I think it’ll be a lot more common a few years down the road, so it will be more appealing.”

McCarthy noted that students or visitors currently do not have to pay to charge their car, but it might become required in the future. Despite this, he said he believes that people will not mind the price as it is significantly cheaper than going to a gas station. 

“There are a bunch of solar panels right there, so it’s not like it uses money off the grid. The charging stations are strictly from solar panels. I just plug it in, and there’s no payment as of right now,” he said. 

McCarthy said he finds this type of technology to be fascinating. 

“It’s obviously far better for the environment especially when you have solar panels fueling it. I like not going to the gas station a whole lot. It’s great,” he said. 

McCarthy said that he wishes there were more on campus and said he believes that the stations would be used a lot more if people knew about them. He said that the low price of charging vehicles may encourage more people to purchase electric vehicles. 

While more locations on campus for the charging stations are being considered, the Sustainability Center said that they are waiting for more information from the school before making their next move.