On December 12, 2022, Florida Power & Light gave a presentation at the Destin City Council meeting regarding a possible partnership between FPL and the City to install an Electric Vehicle Charging Station in the Marler Street parking lot.
- FPL Representative Charlie Driver started his presentation by saying that usage of electric vehicles (EV) is growing rapidly, with Florida being the number two state for adoption of EVs with a little over 150,000 cars.
As part of the 10-year partnership, FPL is looking to install 4 (or more) electric vehicle fast-charging stations at the paid parking lot. Driver says this program would require no fees for equipment or installation from the city, as FPL would manage construction, operation and maintenance. He says it would also have no impact on the city’s electricity costs.
“It truly is no investment on the city’s behalf, other than the spaces,” said Driver. “What we’re looking for is the property to put the chargers on.”
As part of the install, FPL will bring the service to the location, which would include a pad mounted transformer, any power cabinet or equipment that is necessary, along with the charging stations themselves to the parking spaces.
- From there, FPL would promote the parking lot as a charging station location via their FPL EVolution Charging App. The cost to use the charging station would be 30 cents per kilowatt hour, in addition to the already-in-place paid parking fee.
“The great thing about this app is it would put these charging stations on a map that would be easy for people to find,” he told the council. “If they’re coming in from out of town, they should have no issues finding a charging station.”
The Council recently set aside $50,000 in this year’s budget for EV charging stations at this very location. With this partnership with FPL, the city could potentially save those funds.
As far as a timeline, the city will bring back a potential agreement to the council at a future meeting. From there, Driver said it could take anywhere from 8-10 months to become a reality if the council approves the project.
