CHARLESTON, SC - Plug In Carolina, a nonprofit group coordinating state efforts to build an electric vehicle infrastructure, announced that its EV charging network will charge its first car during a ceremony at the South Carolina Statehouse at 10 a.m. on Dec. 8.

The event will also showcase plug-in electric vehicles from Mitsubishi, Toyota, IC Bus, Proterra, Tesla, Zero Motorcycles and Tomberlin. 

This year, Plug In Carolina secured $480,000 of funding to deploy a statewide infrastructure for plug-in electric vehicles. Over 80 charging stations are being deployed in Columbia, Spartanburg, Greenville, Rock Hill, Union, Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Blythewood and Charleston. 

The Dec. 8 event, celebrating the EV charging network's launch, will also host business community stakeholders, including Eaton, Blythewood Oil, Murphy Oil, Best Buy, UPA, SCE&G, Duke Energy, Santee Cooper, Lockhart Power, and the South Carolina Energy Office. In addition, the following two days will include charging-station openings in Blythewood, Rock Hill, Union, Spartanburg and Greenville.

Following the Dec. 8 ceremony on the statehouse steps, Plug In Carolina and the South Carolina Energy Office will conduct an EV planning and grant workshop. The meeting will take place in room 252 in the Brown building on the S.C. Statehouse grounds from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The meeting will address criteria for the 2011 Clean Cities grant.

For information about the workshop, call (800) 503-9381.