City’s First Public EV Charging Station Unveiled at CNB Bank Friday

By Jeremy Coumbes on January 13, 2023 at 6:18pm

Jacksonville’s first public access electric vehicle charging station was unveiled this morning.

CNB Bank and Trust Officials are joined by local city leaders for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new electric vehicle charging station Friday morning.

The new Charge Point station is located at CNB Bank and Trust on West Morton Avenue in the east parking lot. The Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony this morning, with several bank and city officials on hand.

CNB Market President, Jodee Nell says the bank decided to offer an electric vehicle charging point after they heard through the community of a growing need for EV charging, especially for visitors to Jacksonville.

They’re coming to visit or coming for conventions or different activities and they had no place to charge their car. So they are either getting hotels in other towns or going to eat in other towns so they could charge their car.

So we decided to get one that anyone can use just so that people can stay and eat in town as opposed to going to other towns when they are already here anyway.”

The Charge Point EV charging station is a stand-alone unit that accepts various forms of electronic payment including the use of a debit or credit card.

Jacksonville Mayor Andy Ezard talks with CNB Bank and Trust officials about the bank’s new public electric vehicle charging station.

Nell says the charging station is pretty simple to use and should soon be another benefit to visitors to Jacksonville. “Pretty much you just need to download the charge Point app, and then you will put in your information on however you want to pay.

We are giving discounts for CNB customers, so they will not have to pay when they charge. We’re also working on a discount for some of our partner groups like the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and the Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corporation so that they can give it to their visitors to get a bit of a discount on what the normal price is.”

The charging station can accommodate two vehicles at a time. Nell says CNB has built in the ability to add another station and if all is successful, they could add more in the future as the need for EV charging grows in Jacksonville.