GRTC installs new EV charging stations for on-demand transit service

GRTC has installed new EV charging stations at its Richmond headquarters for its Link service. Pictured is Richard Troxel, microtransit transportation supervisor, demonstrating how the stations work. (Jack Jacobs photos)

GRTC is juicing up its microtransit service with new electric-vehicle charging stations.

The transit organization held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday for five new charging stations dedicated to electric vehicles used as part of the Link program, an on-demand service operating within specific territories of the Richmond region.

The installation of the new charging stations comes after GRTC rolled out five electric vans for the Link service, shortly after the service launched in late 2023.

The new chargers at GRTC’s South Richmond headquarters replace the single station previously used that posed a bottleneck for recharging the vehicles. The new chargers are also faster, allowing a van to recharge in two to three hours, whereas the previous charger took six to eight hours.

The project is a step forward in GRTC’s efforts to provide more consistent public transportation service and reduce the organization’s carbon footprint, said Tyrone Nelson, chairman of GRTC’s board of directors.

The new stations were provided through Dominion Energy’s Fleet Charging Program. The power utility’s initiative offers installation and maintenance services for charging stations for commercial fleets, as well as advisory services and incentives.

GRTC is leasing the ChargePoint-brand stations from Dominion, which paid for the chargers and their installation. Dominion’s Brady Quinn declined to comment on the specifics of the GRTC project cost, but he said that generally speaking a project of that scale would cost as much as $80,000.

GRTC Chief of Staff Adrienne Torres said in her remarks at the event that the electric vans are an initial step toward potentially exploring further electrification of the organization’s fleet, and it gives GRTC mechanics a chance to learn the ins and outs of maintaining electric vehicles. Most of GRTC’s buses are powered by natural gas.

Courtney Young, Dominion’s director of electrification, also shared remarks at the event.

One of the five electric vans that GRTC uses to service the Link on-demand transit service.

Link provides an Uber-like service outside GRTC’s main bus routes. Riders can request pickups and dropoffs within five zones that include areas of Henrico, Hanover, Chesterfield and Powhatan counties.

Torres said after the event that the Ashland zone, which includes the town and areas around the Hanover airport and Virginia Center Commons, and the Azalea zone, which is mostly in Henrico around Richmond Raceway, are the most popular zones. She said GRTC is working on further promoting the service’s other zones.

Looking forward, GRTC anticipates adding more chargers that would be set up within the zones where the vehicles are stationed.

“We’re depleting some of the electricity as we get there, and the vehicle stays in the zone all day. A better use of them would be being able to charge them when you’re actually in the zone,” Torres said.

Riders can make a phone call or use an app to hail a Link ride, and GRTC’s goal is to have a vehicle arrive for the pickup within 20 minutes. Like rides on GRTC’s main bus routes, the Link program is a free-to-ride service. The Link fleet consists of 17 vehicles, most of them gas powered.

As GRTC installs new charging stations for its on-demand service at its headquarters at 301 E. Belt Blvd., the transit organization is early in a project to expand its parking facilities there.

GRTC started demolition of the former Antioch Christian Center at 325 E. Belt Blvd. earlier this month, according to a spokeswoman. The property, which GRTC has owned since 2017, is slated to be redeveloped to provide additional parking for the organization’s fleet. The site has been used as employee parking and storage for decommissioned GRTC vehicles.

Demolition work is slated to end in June. While initially it will be used as bus parking, GRTC plans to eventually further develop the site to serve as a transfer station and administrative space, the GRTC spokeswoman said.

GRTC, which is jointly owned by Chesterfield and Richmond, is in the early stages of planning a westward expansion of its rapid-transit Pulse bus line farther into Henrico.

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