Electric charging station delayed

The spot where an EV charging station was under construction earlier this month. This photo was taken July 29.

The electric vehicle charging station that had been under construction in the Annandale Shopping Center on Columbia Pike disappeared last week.

Relax, electric car owners, it isn’t gone for good – just delayed.

This is the same spot on June 27.

The EVgo company had anticipated the charging station would be operational before the shopping center’s National Night Out community gathering on Aug. 6, and was even planning a ribbon-cutting during that event, says Marcy Bauer, director of operations at EVgo.

But there were some technical hiccups after EVgo switched contractors.

“We knew we weren’t going to be done in time,” Bauer says. “We didn’t want the parking lot torn up for that event.”

EVgo also learned the charging station was being built in a spot not owned by the shopping center and will have to be moved a few spaces down.

While the actual charging stations were on site, they hadn’t been installed yet. Meanwhile, the infrastructure underground is already in place.

EVgo is also preparing to construct an electric vehicle charging station at Barcroft Plaza near Starbucks. That project should be done in two or three months, Bauer says.

Those charging stations are part of a statewide network of electrical charging stations in Virginia funded by the state’s share of the Volkswagen settlement fund. EVgo is planning to develop about 20 stations in Northern Virginia, Bauer says.

The electric vehicle charging station in the Target parking lot on Arlington Boulevard in Seven Corners was developed by Electrify America, a VW subsidiary.