You and your car can get a jolt at a Pasco Starbucks

Travelers on Highway 395 in the Tri-Cities have another option to charge up electric vehicles quickly.

A new fast charging station has opened just off the highway at Starbucks on Court Street in Pasco.

The station is the fourth of nine to open after Energy Northwest received a Washington state Department of Transportation grant of $405,000 a year ago on behalf of the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Transportation Alliance (EVITA).

With private vendor contributions, stations are being opened to provide services for electric cars across Eastern Washington and to link the east side of the state with the west.

The Pasco station at 2411 Court Street is the first of the EVITA stations to be solar powered and the first to be owned by a site host. Tom Logan, the property owner at the Pasco site, has invested $100,000. The Franklin PUD also contributed to the station.

The station can bring most electric vehicles from zero to full charge in close to 30 minutes and also has a medium-speed charger for plug-in hybrid vehicles with smaller battery capacities.

EVITA has already opened similar stations in the Southridge area of Kennewick, plus Ellensburg and Yakima. Stations are planned for Richland, Prosser, Connell, Cle Elum and George.

This story was originally published September 5, 2018 at 7:19 PM.