New London – The city in the coming months will massively expand its inventory of electric vehicle charging stations through a no-cost incentive program that parking officials said will create the biggest pocket of such devices in the region.

The 18 dual-port, Level 2 devices will be introduced to several municipal addresses, from City Hall and parking lots to five school district buildings, said Carey Redd II, the city’s director of transportation and parking.

Redd, who said he’s been working on the project for months, said at least half of the incoming stations will be active by the end of the year.

“When we’re done, we’ll have largest number of electric vehicle charging stations in the southeast corridor,” he said.

The cost of the design and installation of the devices will be paid by the Shaws Cove-based contractor Resource Lighting & Energy, which in turn will recoup its costs by way of grant and rebate incentives offered by Eversource, Mayor Michael Passero said.

“These are chargers that would normally cost between $40,000 and $50,000 each and we’ll be able to add them to every city address, including City Hall, the senior center and the schools,” Passero said. “Before this, we were really on our own, adding a few at the marina parking lot and the (Water Street) garage.”

Other locations slated to welcome the new stations include the Stanton Building on Union Street, the city’s Masonic Street finance office, upper levels of the Water Street Garage and several municipal parking lots

Redd said he anticipates charging users 25 cents per kilowatt hour, less than the state’s standard rate of 43 cents.

“That’s a price that will help subsidize our costs but in a favorable way to residents and tourists,” he said. “I know of some cities that charge 50 cents or a dollar per kilowatt hour for charging. By charging less, we show we want people to come here, to spend money at restaurants and stores without paying a 50% higher cost for charging.”

Redd noted the charging stations introduced in the city nearly a decade ago did not offer a payment option.

In addition to the municipal sites, the chargers will also be placed outside all school buildings, school district Director of Facilities Miguel Gautier said.

“Everyone seems to be getting these electric vehicle stations and we wanted to offer the same option to our staff,” he said. “This represents a zero-cost program for the district,” he said.

He said trenches were recently dug outside the Winthrop STEM, Nathan Hale Arts Magnet or C.B. Jennings International schools in anticipation of installation, though a new, inactive station was in place at the C.B. Jennings school on Tuesday.

Ongoing infrastructure projects at the Bennie Dover Jackson middle school and multi-magnet high school campus will delay installation at those locations until next year, Gautier said.

He said the devices will likely only be available for school employees at the elementary and middle school sites, though the high school location might be opened for student use.

Bryan Doughty, chairman of the board’s School Facilities & Program Design Committee, said the proposal was introduced to his group a couple of weeks ago.

“Why not get ahead of the curve?” he asked. “You see these stations at restaurants, outside municipal buildings and other places, and it seems like a super-smart idea to put them outside schools.”

Doughty suspects few, if any, New London students are driving electric vehicles – at least right now.

“But the trend is heading towards more and more of those vehicles being bought and driven, including by teachers and staff,” he said, noting he’s heard talk of school bus companies in the country looking to introduce such models into their fleets. “It’s forward thinking for us to look at this.”

j.penney@theday.com