Charging your Personal Vehicle
The University of Southern Maine provides electric vehicle (EV) charging on campus, as one of many strategies, to help achieve its goal of carbon neutrality by the year 2040.
The new charging stations in the new parking garage (located by Glickman and Wishcamper) in Portland are operational and available for charging. All free stations on the Portland campus are permanently closed.
Fifty-eight level-2 charging plugs are available throughout the parking garage and are open to anyone with a valid permit to park in the garage. All plugs require payment and only vehicles plugged in may be parked in the designated EV charging spaces. There is no designated time limit for parking in these spaces, as long as the vehicle is plugged in. If it is not plugged in, then a citation will be issued.
The price for charging is currently $0.30 per kWh 24/7. After charging is complete, there is a 30-minute grace period before an idling fee will be assessed. The idling fee will be $0.35 per hour 24/7. Please also note that, independent of the University, Blink charges $0.49 once per charging session to begin the session. Additionally, Blink puts a $20 pre-authorization hold on a customer’s credit card if they are not a registered user on the Blink ap. They do this in order to ensure there is sufficient balance on the account to pay for forthcoming charges. Registered Blink ap users should not be subject to this hold. Questions about this $20 hold should be directed to Blink. These rates are subject to change, so please view this website or the Blink ap regularly. You can pay using either the Blink ap or the credit card swipe on the station. Please note that before unplugging the charging cord from your vehicle, you must stop the session on your ap or the screen. If you don’t stop the session first, you may experience technical issues with your account.
The Gorham campus currently has one free, level-2 charging station located in the Russell Hall lot. This space has a two-hour limit before a citation will be issued. The Gorham campus also has two level 3 chargers in the GS1 parking lot on School Street. Users will be charged per KWH delivered until their battery is full or until the charging process is otherwise stopped by the vehicle or the user. A grace period will then follow, at no additional cost to the user. After the grace period, an hourly idling rate will be charged for the remainder of time that the vehicle is parked in this space. The current per KWH costs for charging, the length of the intermediary grace period, the following hourly idling rates, and any additional fees are posted by the vendor on the Plug Share Page here. These costs may vary by day of the week, time of day, or duration of time plugged in, so please read the current schedule and rates on the website carefully. A third-party vendor manages these stations, so please call the number on the units for support.
The Lewiston campus does not currently have any charging stations.
Only vehicles permitted or paying to be on campus may use the charging stations.
EV Charging Policy
For more details about the rules and regulations, please view the University’s EV charging policy here.
University’s Electric Fleet
The USM Facilities Management department operates several electric-powered bicycles toting trailers on campus, in an effort to get more gasoline trucks and vans off the road. These vehicles are used year-round by technicians.