Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Charging Electric Cars in Brookline: Then and Now


Electric car charging stations were installed in two locations in Brookline in October 2011.  But did you know that 100 years ago there were four times as many such stations in town?

Photo of electric car being charged at Corey Hill Garage, 1915
This photo of an electric car being charged at the Corey Hill Garage on Winchester Street appeared in the April 3, 1915 issue of Electrical Review and Western Electrician

The Boston Globe, under the headline "Charging Stations in Bay State," on December 10, 1911 listed all of the locations in Massachusetts for charging electric vehicles.

"That the electric vehicle is destined to have a large sale in this section is evidenced by the large number of charging stations now available in Massachusetts for them," [reported the Globe].

Brookline, with eight stations, was second only to Boston in the number of charging stations in the state. (Boston had 14.) Most of the facilities in the state were provided by electric utilities and municipal power plants, but all eight in Brookline (and all but one in Boston) were at commercial garages.

The full list of Brookline charging stations in the 1911 Globe article included:
  • Beaconsfield Garage, 1731 Beacon Street
  • Brandon Garage, 643 Washington Street
  • Brookline Garage, 50 Washington Street
  • A.E. Carpenter Garage, 112 Corey Road
  • Central Garage, 45 Washington Street
  • Chestnut Hill Auto Garage, 199 Commonwealth Avenue
  • Coolidge Corner Garage, 33 Marion Street
  • Corey Hill Garage, 54 Winchester Street
The two charging stations installed in October 2011 are in the Town Hall parking lot (shown below) and the town parking lot at Babcock and John Streets in Coolidge Corner.

Electric car charging station in Town Hall parking lot Electric car charging station in Town Hall parking lot

1 comment:

  1. Interesting post, the number of car charging stations is less . I am curious that if some cars are out of power on the road and have not reached the charging station, what should he do? How long does it take to charge each car?

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