Blooming Prairie gets a “present” too

This month, Santa and his reindeer won't be the only things coming to town. They'll be joined by an electric car charging station, which should be activated in the next week or two, according to BP Public Utilities General Manager Jerry Mausbach.
The self-service charging station will be the first of its kind in Blooming Prairie. It’s located in the parking area on the west side of city hall.
Its upcoming activation is significant for those who have an electric vehicle because soon they won’t have to leave town just to charge their car.
While gas-fueled vehicles still vastly outnumber electric vehicles in Blooming Prairie, he noted there are a few residents who are anxious for the charging station to be operational.
"We've had a couple people, three to be exact, ask when it was going to be activated. So, there's been a little bit [of demand], but there just aren’t too many electric vehicles out there yet," Mausbach said.
He anticipates that the charging station will be ready in a couple of weeks. The city is waiting on the manufacturer to fully commission it and connect it with local cell phone towers.
Once it's operational, he explained that the charging station will benefit the whole community.
“Naturally, you’d sell a little more electricity, and you keep those funds in your local community [rather than] sending it out to foreign areas,” he said.
Mausbach added that selling more electricity would financially benefit Blooming Prairie residents.
“We’re a non-profit utility, so the higher volume you sell, the smaller your margins have to be to maintain a higher-quality service,” he said.
Another, more global reason to promote the use of electricity is that it’s a sustainable form of energy.
"You can draw a lot of this energy from renewable resources and use that for travel. In turn, that cuts down on fossil fuel consumption," Mausbach said.
While there are numerous benefits of using electricity, there is a cost to installing car-charging stations. Fortunately, he noted that Blooming Prairie only had to cover a small portion of the installation cost. The Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Association covered approximately 90% of the cost.
In addition to a reduced cost, the fast charger also reduces the time that electric vehicle owners will have to wait for their car to charge up.
Mausbach explained that the time it takes to charge a vehicle depends on the vehicle and the size of its battery.
“For some of the large-battery vehicles to go from a 20% charge to 80%, it can take about 20 to 30 minutes. For some of the vehicles with a smaller battery, with a shorter range, it can take about 10 to 15 minutes,” he said.
Even if electric vehicles may be the wave of the future, Mausbach said he doesn’t anticipate Blooming Prairie will add any more charging stations.