Darien resident Mike McGee, managing director at the Stamford office of KPMG, a tenant in the building, recently started using the station to charge his 2013 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid.
The landlord, Ashforth Company of Stamford, was so pleased that it sent out a news release.
"I probably would not have thought about a hybrid car, but with the charging station located right at my office and Toyota’s $7,300 rebate incentive, it was an easy decision," Ashforth quoted McGee as saying.
Here's the full news release:
KPMG Employee First to Use Ashforth’s Electric Vehicle Charging Station
STAMFORD, CT – It has been over two years since The Ashforth Company, a 117-year-old Stamford, Connecticut commercial real estate firm installed a plug-in electric vehicle (EV) charging station at 3001 Stamford Square, Ashforth’s 290,000-square-foot office property located on Summer Street in Stamford, Conn.
Installing the station in May of 2011 was a small part of the $12 million building renovation completed at the end of 2012. Ashforth’s charging station was one of the first private access electric charging units in Connecticut registered with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels & Advanced Vehicles Data Center.
Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.
According to the website, in the late summer of 2011, there were approximately 65 public and private units registered in the state; 26 were private access units. Today the website notes 127 registered units with 108 of them indicated as private owners.
Darien resident Mike McGee, managing director at the Stamford office of KPMG, a tenant at Ashforth’s 3001 Stamford Square building is the first person to utilize the charging station according to the building’s vice president and property manager, David Marks.
Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.
McGee recently purchased a 2013 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid, which starts at $32,000.
“We needed a second car and with the price of gas we wanted something more economical than our Toyota Highlander SUV. I probably would not have thought about a hybrid car, but with the charging station located right at my office and Toyota’s $7300 rebate incentive, it was an easy decision,” said McGee.
McGee noted that he can travel 13 miles on one charge and then the car automatically switches to regular gasoline.
Ashforth’s Level 2 GE wall-mount charging unit is located on a commission-designed wall in its parking garage allowing someone to simply park and plug their car to charge their EV. This is a free amenity to the tenants and their employees who work at Ashforth’s building.
A typical Level 2 unit will charge an EV in 4-6 hours. However, McGee noted that it actually takes his car only about two to two and half hours to complete the charge at Ashforth’s station which is run off a dedicated 220 volt, 30 amp circuit. At home, since he plugs into a 110 volt, 15 amp circuit, it takes three to three and half hours.
“We are excited to offer our tenants free and easy access to an electric charging station. We hope the on-site convenience will encourage more people to purchase electric vehicles as we can all ultimately benefit from a cleaner, lower-cost and locally available fuel alternative,” said Brian Heelan, senior vice president and director of operations for Ashforth’s management services division.Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
