Pierce Pepin Cooperative Services (PPCS) hosted a ribbon-cutting event at Belle Vinez Winery in River Falls, Wis., on Friday, September 2.  PPCS members and employees, and Dairyland Power Cooperative and River Falls Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau representatives gathered at Belle Vinez to celebrate the installation of a CHARGE electric vehicle charging station. This is the second charging station PPCS has installed with the goal of encouraging tourism in Pierce County by electric vehicle drivers.      

“While many public charging stations are located near transportation corridors such as Interstate 94,” said Nate Boettcher, PPCS president and CEO, “PPCS decided to take a slightly different approach and located chargers at destinations within our service area.”  CHARGE EV, LLC, was established by Wisconsin cooperatives to build an EV charging network across our region. In less than two years, CHARGE has now grown from 31 electric cooperatives to nearly 100 spread across the upper Midwest, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, and Oregon.

“Locating these charging stations near tourism and entertainment destinations,” said Boettcher, “we are encouraging members and non-members to spend time at our community businesses.”   

CHARGE electric charging stations can be found through their website, charge.coop, or the Plug Share app for smartphones.