Now, there are a total of 11 electric car chargers in the parking garages at Eastern.
Installation of the charging stations is paid for using funding from various sources, including the university's budget and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
"We have been able to keep the cost of the installation at a minimum by having our own electrical department perform the installations," Eastern Director of Facilities Management and Planning Renee Theroux-Keech said in an e-mail.
The total cost of the installations was unavailable by presstime.
In a press release from Eastern, Patricia Szczys, director of the Institute for Sustainability at Eastern, said the installation is "timely" given the fact that "energy costs are going to increase dramatically."
Eastern's sustainability initiatives were recently recognized by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), who awarded Eastern with a gold rating.
The university was one of three colleges in the state to receive that honor.
Yale University in New Haven and Connecticut College in New London also received gold ratings from AASHE. The gold rating is the second highest rating, next to platinum.
Eastern's new rating is valid through 2025.
Eastern received a high number of points by AASHE for its revised Climate Action Plan, as well as its pledge to become carbon-neutral by 2030.
It also received high marks for improving its emissions inventory and greenhouse gas reporting, as well as for campus dining, landscape management and community initiatives, among other categories.
Eastern was also one of 455 colleges named in Princeton Review's Green Colleges guide, the 13th time it received that honor.
Charging stations are available for use by the general public, as well as Eastern students, faculty and staff. There is no charge.
People are asked to limit their charging to two to four hours and campus police are monitoring those limits. Theroux-Keech said there are no meters on the chargers so data can not be collected about daily usage. However, she noted the charging stations are used often.
Theroux-Keech said in a press release that the university is exploring the possibility of electrifying some vehicles in the facilities department.
"We have been exploring electrifying a portion of the facilities maintenance fleet and would look to locate chargers in areas where fleet vehicles park," she said in the release.
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