Whitefish Bay to get its first electric vehicle charging stations

After a long budget approval discussion, attendees who stayed around for Whitefish Bay’s entire village board meeting Nov. 20 witnessed the board take a step to build more electric vehicle infrastructure in the village.

The board unanimously voted to purchase and install two dual-port electric vehicle charging stations to be placed in the municipal parking lot on East Beaumont Avenue behind the former Fox Bay Cinema building on Silver Spring.

Director of Public Works John Edlebeck said the chargers will be able to charge any type of vehicle if an adapter is used.

The new EV charging stations will be installed in the coming months and are the first of their kind in Whitefish Bay. There are no existing EV charging stations in the village, although there is one nearby at the Bayshore Mall.

The village will contract with electrical contractor Pro Electric Inc., based in Racine County, and Minneapolis-based manufacturer ZEF Energy for the project. ZEF Energy is owned by over 35 cooperatives and municipal utilities.

Most of the $42,697 cost of the charging ports was included in the village's 2023 TIF #1 capital budget passed last year. A bit more than $11,000 of that will be covered by a We Energies pilot program EV charging station grant.

“The money generated for that district is meant to invest in further improving that business district,” Village Board President Kevin Buckley said. Members of the business district told Buckley that EV charging stations will give residents another reason to dine and shop along Silver Spring Drive, which is near the stations.

The location was also selected to leverage an existing We Energies transformer with excess capacity, according to a Nov. 13 village memo.

This project has been a long time coming, Edlebeck said. He has been working on the project for the last year and a half and cited difficulties getting contractor quotes.

The village finally obtained two quotes, and the Pro Electric quote of $42,697 was much lower than the one received from Arch Electric, which came in at $101,126.

Village board discussion focused on cost and maintenance

At the meeting, multiple trustees questioned whether this almost $60,000 difference was a red flag for the village.

Edlebeck said it boils down to the fact that Arch Electric is busy, and this isn’t their primary market.

Another concern raised at the meeting by Buckley related to how the stations would be maintained and who would be responsible for maintaining them, citing an “epidemic of broken EV chargers” across the country.

The charging stations come with a warranty of five years, but Buckley told the board to expect maintenance costs after that.

Edlebeck told the board that conversations with the contractors and manufacturers have left him with the impression that these stations will be higher quality than many of the ones failing. And if maintenance is required, he said, it helps that the contractor is local.

Raisa Koltun asked whether there was any additional grant funding available for this project.

Edlebeck said there may be some incoming grant funds through a City of Milwaukee application the village signed onto as a partner municipality.

While those funds wouldn’t apply to these EV charging stations, they might open up more opportunities for additional ones in the future.

Contact Claudia Levens at clevens@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @levensc13.

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