Last Thursday, Salisbury unveiled their first electric vehicle charging station in honor of National Drive Electric Week. The charging station is located downtown behind Nashville Nights in the South Lee Street parking area. To use the charging station you pay by the minutes used instead of by the wattage since many electric vehicles vary in their wattage needs. You can check on your car and pay through an app on your phone. Usually, a car with zero percent charge can become fully charged and ready to go within 20 minutes.

Dr. Robert Voelker, an adjunct Catawba biology professor, was in attendance sporting his partially electric Chevy Volt. Voelker talked to several of the Catawba students in attendance and said, “at the stage that I am now I am really thinking about what are some ways that I can make the world a better place to live in?” and the answer he believed in, was solar energy. Soon after he came to this realization, he and his wife decided to install a Photovoltaic solar (PVS) system at their house. Not long after they installed the solar panels they realized that he and his wife were creating far more than they were using, and since they were generating power, Duke Energy started to give them money to help light the city. With that extra money, the Voelker’s decided to save up and purchase an electric vehicle. Since November of last year they have only used 16 gallons of fuel for their car and the rest has been pure electricity.