Last month, the Orlando Utilities Commission officially opened the Robinson Recharge Mobility Hub, one of the largest electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in Florida. Located on 129 W. Robinson St. in downtown Orlando, the facility features 20 high-speed EV chargers that can be used for all makes of EVs.
According to local officials, the average charging time for an EV with a low battery is between 20 and 60 minutes. The downtown Orlando site supports OUC’s effort to increase Central Florida’s EV use to 40,000 vehicles by 2025, resulting in carbon emissions reductions of about 200,000 tons per year.
“The Robinson Recharge Mobility Hub marks our single most substantial investment in building robust EV charging infrastructure in Orlando,” said OUC—The Reliable One CEO Clint Bullock, who joined City of Orlando leaders for the grand opening. “We’re extremely proud of this project, as convenient access to high-speed EV chargers makes EV ownership more attractive, and more EVs on the road will mean a greater reduction in CO2 emissions. The site further complements OUC’s efforts to ensure Central Florida remains a national leader in EV readiness.”
The hub, which is equipped with six 240-kilowatt (kW) and 14 120kW Level 3-rated charging dispensers, is part of OUC’s $45 million commitment to support the transition to transportation electrification. Funds from a $500,000 grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) were used to partially pay for the hub.
The site features 21 CCS-1 adapters, 1 CHAdeMO adapter, and 10 Tesla (NACS) adapters. All units have CCS-1 hoses, one has a CHAdeMO hose, and there are 10 CCS-1 to NACS individual converters for use.
EV charger manufacturer Power Electronics, the City of Orlando and Orange County helped secure that grant. OUC and Power Electronics covered the remaining project costs and OUC donated property for the hub. CHA Engineering oversaw site engineering while Aireko Construction built the facility. The site utilizes Orlando-based NovaCharge’s ChargeUp application for point-of-sale transaction management.
In Orange County and Osceola County, there are 23,329 EV vehicles registered, 11% of Florida’s total registrations. Orange County is one of the top 4 counties for EV adoption approaching 2% of registered vehicles. There are 243 level 3 public chargers in Osceola and Orange County, but 75% of those chargers are Tesla NACS chargers. Overall, there are 210,143 EVs registered in Florida as of July 2023, up 42% over July 2022 registrations.
In 2022, DEP awarded the OUC-led EV hub partnership a second $266,800 grant to build a high-speed EV charging facility at the Orange County Convention Center South Concourse parking lot. Construction is anticipated to begin this fall. The site will initially offer six 240kW Level 3-rated charging dispensers, but could add as many as 12 Level 3 chargers in the future.
OUC plans to facilitate the launch of six more charging hubs by 2030. High-speed charging hubs are projected to bring in $1.38 million in annualized energy sales to OUC by 2025.
