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SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — The agency charged with protecting Lake Tahoe's environment wants to expand the network of charging stations for electric cars around the lake.
The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency has submitted a $200,000 grant request to the California Energy Commission to create a blueprint for increasing the number of stations in the Tahoe-Truckee area.
Agency spokesman Tom Lotshaw told the Tahoe Daily Tribune (http://bit.ly/1Bzr91T ) the plan would assess current charging locations and identify public and private locations where charging stations would best serve the public.
"Providing Tahoe with adequate electric vehicle infrastructure is important because we're a community, a destination, a gateway and part of a travel corridor," Lotshaw said.
"We want to create (the plan) for a more comprehensive strategy to best outfit our region and avoid duplicated efforts or underserved areas, and to better understand what the market is for these charging stations and where it will be in the future so we can plan for it," he added.
Some electric charging stations already exist around Tahoe, including ones in Tahoe City, Truckee and Squaw Valley. On the Nevada side of the lake, Incline Village and Stateline also offer them.
In October, Oliver Luxury Real Estate installed two Tesla stations in Tahoe City. The stations provide the highest-power, level 2 Tesla charging solution available at no cost to the public.
"With San Francisco and the larger Silicon Valley region representing a large population of Tesla owners, Tesla's presence is rapidly growing in Tahoe," Darin Vicknair, a broker associate with Oliver Luxury, said in a statement. "In order to accommodate clientele, we wanted to join in the act of 'electrifying' Lake Tahoe."
Tesla Motors also has a presence in Truckee, where a private, six-bay supercharger station opened in September behind Safeway.
"Between Tesla's investment in the community and the growing number of electric vehicles in California, it's pretty clear that electric cars are coming," said Steven Poncelet, conservation manager for the Truckee Donner Public Utility District.
Squaw Valley installed four ports last September to become the first ski resort in California to do so, the Tribune reported. Other regional businesses with ports include the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe in Incline Village; Cedar House Sport Hotel in Truckee; and Harvey's Lake Tahoe in Stateline.
Earlier this year, the Incline Village General Improvement District installed four 70-amp, 240-volt ports at the Diamond Peak Ski Resort and the Championship Golf Course.
The installations come amid Tesla's recent deal with Nevada to bring a $5 billion battery factory to the Silver State.
The "gigafactory" is expected to bring more than 20,000 jobs and $100 billion to Nevada's economy over the next 20 years. It will be the biggest lithium battery factory in the world and is critical to the electric car-maker's plans to begin mass marketing a more affordable line of the vehicles within three years.
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Information from: Tahoe Daily Tribune, http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/
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