Photos: Rap Hankins at Trotwood, Ohio charging station
I recently received a very moving letter from one of my colleagues, Rap Hankins, president of Drive Electric Dayton, about how life-changing our charger has been for his city. I’d like to share it with you below.
On Memorial Day, 2019, two level five tornadoes hit the city of Trotwood, Ohio. As I looked at the devastation, I remember thinking that I have been fighting for racial equity for all my adult life. Mother Nature taught me a harsh lesson that evening: It was painfully clear that global warming ultimately will not discriminate. It will affect every person, definitively, on the Earth.
Environmental equity was something I had to become familiar with — and quickly. As I studied, I asked myself: What can I do to lower my carbon footprint? My answer was to lease an electric vehicle. This decision, however, raised more questions. How would I charge? Where would I charge? What would it cost me? And, if I became the voice for EV adoption, where will the citizens where I live charge?
As I began to answer these questions, I pulled up the app PlugShare and rapidly discovered that there were no electric vehicle chargers in the city of Trotwood (a community of 23,000). I reached out to a friend of mine, Stu Ungar, who represents Adopt a Charger in Kentucky and Ohio.
Stu introduced me to Kitty Adams. I made a request and asked if Adopt a Charger would install a Level 2 charger at the city of Trotwood Government and Police Center. I strongly believe that Level 2 chargers must be free in underserved communities.
Over the last several years, this truth has born itself out. People are more likely to purchase an EV when they can charge at home or when they have access to free or reasonably priced chargers at work, play and home.
I would like to thank Kitty Adams, Stu Ungar and the elected officials of the City of Trotwood for making it possible for Drive Electric Dayton to install this charger. The funds came from a family that lost a loved one in a motorcycle accident, and I would also like to sincerely thank them for the donation. Because of Adopt a Charger, there’s now a place for citizens to charge when they are downtown and for visitors to charge as they travel through the great city of Trotwood.
Thank you, Adopt a Charger for leading in the fight to educate citizens about global warming and the need to provide accessible and free charging to those in need.
Rap Hankins
President, Drive Electric Dayton
EVs FOR ALL, TODAY & TOMORROW