Green light: Bethany Beach is adding charging stations for electric vehicles

If you thought summer parking was hard to find in Bethany Beach, finding a charging station for electric vehicles was even harder. That’s about to change — at least a little bit — when the town soon installs eight new electric car charging stations, Delaware Public Media reports.

The stations, which double as parking spots with a $2-per-hour fee for charging on top of the parking fee, will be located in three sites: two on South Pennsylvania Avenue across from the PNC Bank, four near the Blue Crab Restaurant, and two on North Pennsylvania Avenue across from Lighthouse Station.

According to Bethany Town Manager Cliff Graviet, the town began considering adding charging stations last spring after Ocean City, Maryland reported success with its own charging station program through Baltimore’s Electric Vehicle Institute, which provides, installs and maintains the stations for five years. Mayor Jack Gordon and the Bethany Town Council recently voted to approve the arrangement.

Bethany’s electric car chargers are among several recent and ongoing Sussex County technology updates, including the Dart Connect microtransit service in Georgetown, rural broadband, and the University of Delaware’s Ratcliffe Eco-Entrepreneurship Fellows (aka REEF) program and its robot boats in Lewes.