Linden Square would be a “very logical location” for a later rollout, says Federal Realty’s Mike Kelleher. “The cost is nominal,” he says.

Whole Foods Market in Wellesley offers a car charging station free of use, and that’s the only publicly available car charging station in town that we’ve uncovered. We wrote earlier this year about one Wellesley family that uses it.

Share/Bookmark

Funding was also approved at the meeting for the Fuller Brook Park project and a new Municipal Light Plant project.

Here’s a more detailed rundown of the town meeting results, from the Boston Globe, and here’s a brief scorecard of the action from the town.

RELATED: Who says Wellesley is a dry town?

Share/Bookmark

Share/Bookmark

We wrote recently about the Wellesley Whole Foods Market  electric car charging station (See “Anyone ever used Whole Foods electric car charging station?”), and wondered whether anyone in town is actually using it. Whole Foods said that they’ve seen people using it, but weren’t tracking usage or where people were from.

We heard from Wellesley’s Roger Preston, though, that he had a Chevy Volt on order and that car has now arrived. Shown here is his wife Sara fueling up at the Whole Foods Market charging station.

Roger told us that he wasn’t finding many EV (electric vehicle) dealers in the area and has been on a Nissan Leaf waiting list for about 18 months. “You don’t seem to be able to get one off the showroom floor — you have to go into a dealership and order it, then wait about 6 – 8 weeks before the factory builds and ships it.  Dealerships seem to be allocated only a few build orders per month.  So still relatively hard to get.  2012/2013 should change that when EV models from additional automobile manufacturers enter the fray.”

Roger gives his new Volt a positive early review: “There are some things I like and some things I don’t, but as far as the electric drive goes, it’s great — smooth, quiet, powerful, and I’m getting about 35 miles on electric only before I run out of battery (I have yet to use any gas since I have a short commute).” (Once the battery depletes while driving, the gasoline generator gets you another 300 miles or so.)

He’s getting a 240 volt electric charging docking station installed in his garage that supposedly will fully charge the battery from complete depletion in about 4 hours.  “For now, I’m just plugging it into the wall using a regular 110 volt outlet (10-hour charge when battery is fully depleted, but I’ve yet to deplete the battery completely, so I’m just topping off).” He says he’ll have to compare a few months’ worth of electric bills to figure out his best charging strategy. He’s not counting on the Whole Foods charging station to always be available when he or his wife shops at the store, but will use it when it is.

(Speaking of car-related expenses in town: Wellesley’s parking meter rates will be doubling in the months ahead to 50 cents an hour. Please send it here

Share/Bookmark

Very cool that Wellesley Whole Foods Market at 442 Washington St., has installed what as far as we can tell is the only public electric car charging station in town (if there are others, let us know…nothing else shows up on the alternative fuel finders we checked). We’d been wondering whether anyone in or out of town has actually used it.

A Whole Foods rep says that indeed some car chargers have been spotted but did not have information on actual usage, noting there is no gauge at the station.

Scott Bender of Wellesley’s Sustainable Energy Committee says that electric charging stations will be a topic at an upcoming committee meeting, and in fact he did receive a recent inquiry about electric vehicles/charging stations in town. “I am sure that interest will build as electric cars and plug-in hybrids increase in number,” he says. Electric cars on the market include the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt, with others such as GM’s all-electric Chevy Spark in the works.

We thought Babson College or Wellesley College might have a public electric charging station given that both are big into sustainability, but Babson doesn’t and as far as we know, Wellesley College doesn’t either. Though Wellesley does have at least one solar-powered car that putters around campus.

Share/Bookmark

RELATED: Wellesley Trails Committee

Share/Bookmark

RELATED: Wellesley Hurricane Emergency info

Reporting power outages

Share/Bookmark

Additional information on hurricane preparedness is available from:MEMA (the MA Emergency Management Agency) on their website, andFEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) through their Ready.gov portal.

Our Fire Rescue Department /EMS staff, Police/Emergency Dispatchers (911), MLP, DPW, Health Dept., and team of citizen volunteers (CERT), are ready to assist our community if needed but emergency preparedness always begins at home!

Share/Bookmark

We had a close call Friday afternoon as an electrical storm whipped through Wellesley and hit a 40+ foot pine tree next to our house, spraying pieces from a 10-foot strip of the trunk across our yard, the top of our cars and the street. It also took out a basement outlet, a TV and apparently, our phone service. Parts of Wellesley lost power as well.

Share/Bookmark

The garden, a ribbon-cutting for which was held in late June as the school year ended, is designed to fit in with a number of lessons kids are being taught in class. For example, classes studying bugs might plant flowers that attract insects while those studying healthy eating might plant certain fruits or vegetables. Sprague has raised funds for the garden by selling steppingstones designed by students.

Separately, Wellesley Congregational (Village) Church in Wellesley Square has established a veggie garden of its own on Church Street. The garden is tended by volunteers and the produce is being donated to the Wellesley Food Pantry, as is food from the Sprague gardens.

Share/Bookmark