Project Kinetic establishes four DC fast charger EV stations in downtown Detroit

Detroit will continue its march into the electric fold with this week’s launch of four ChargePoint DC fast charger stations for electric vehicles (EVs) in the downtown area, as part of a collaborative effort known as Project Kinetic.

Kinetic is a union of DTE Energy, the City of Detroit, the mobility initiative PlanetM, General Motors, and Blue Energy. These four new stations are littered around Detroit’s Beacon Park, an expansive green space near the city’s heart — and DTE’s corporate office. While DTE Energy and Blue Energy handled the installation of the new equipment, General Motors demonstrated their efficacy through four Chevrolet Bolts.

“DTE’s accelerated path toward a clean energy future is well underway. We are excited to join our customers, partners, and community stakeholders as we work together to reduce carbon emissions,” Camilo Serna, vice president of Corporate Strategy at DTE Energy, said. “We are thrilled to lead the partnership effort to bring DC fast charging to the city of Detroit, and we look forward to further deployment of EV charger infrastructure, and bringing the benefits of EVs to our customers.”

Plans for such deployments are already underway. The partnership intends to install two more chargers at Capitol Park, another public space. This builds on a collaboration that has been ongoing since January 2018, with a common goal of identifying and deploying innovative solutions for mobility troubles in Detroit. This latest effort of theirs in Beacon Park has been dubbed ChargeD, an effort to further the city’s downtown accessibility through better parking offerings and improvement of traffic conditions.

“Project Kinetic helped build a set of pilots for the City of Detroit that were informed by both Detroiters and the private sector,” Joel Howrani Heeres, director of Detroit’s Office of Sustainability, said. “ChargeD will allow residents, employees, and users to have access to fast charging technology, create an opportunity to educate the community about electric vehicles and understand what it will take to scale this program across Detroit. It also helps achieve goals concerning clean air, mobility, and the climate crisis, outlined in the recently released Detroit Sustainability Action Agenda.”

For this project, DTE Energy acted as manager and facilitator, providing electric infrastructure and upgrades for the fast chargers. Blue Energy is the owner and operator of the chargers. Both will have access to the data those chargers collect.