The 100 kilowatt Direct Current Fast Charger in Malone is the fourth location completed as art of a statewide EVolve NY effort. (Malone Telegram photo — Alexander Violo)

MALONE — The first high-speed electric vehicle charging hub is up and running in Franklin County.

The first fast charger for electric vehicles in Franklin County is located in the parking lot of the Franklin County Courthouse in Malone, according to a press release from the New York Power Authority.

According to the press release, the first charging hub is a 100-kilowatt Direct Current Fast Charger, with two charging ports and the option to add a second fast charger to the site in the future if needed.

Fast chargers like the one located in Malone, can charge an electric vehicle in as little as 20 minutes, according to the press release, which states Level 2 chargers can take up to six hours to fully charge an electric vehicle.

According to Russ Kinyon, director of economic development for the Franklin County Local Development Corporation, the charging station will help both residents and visitors to the Malone area.

“The station will have increasing importance and potential as we will see significant investment and transformational projects coming to downtown Malone in the adjacent blocks and across Route 11 over the next few years,” Kinyon said in the press release, “This station will be well placed for visitors to the courthouse and those new developments, as well as our Canadian and regional travelers who pass through and make stops in Malone.”

Kinyon said the fast charging station is located on property Franklin County owns, with a direct power connection to a nearby transformer.

Kinyon said Malone’s new fast charging station joins similar stations in Canton, Lake Placid, and Plattsburgh.

“I think it was a centrally located area without a fast charging station, for people who travel locally,” Kinyon said.

The press release states the charging hub is the first charger over 50-kilowatts providing non-proprietary charging in the North Country.

Non-proprietary chargers are able to power any fully electric vehicles, regardless of make or model, as opposed to Supercharger sites, which can only be used on Tesla-made vehicles.

Franklin County’s charging hub is the fourth site in a statewide initiative designed to encourage more widespread use of electronic vehicles, by making fast charging more accessible and convenient for their owners, according to the power authority’s press release.

The initiative, EVolve NY, started in 2018 and looks to add chargers along highways, investing up to $250 million through 2025 to improve the state’s electric vehicle infrastructure, according to the power authority’s website.

The press release states the new charging hub is part of a regional initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emission in the North Country, while helping all of New York State reach clean energy goals.

Under New York State’s climate plan the goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85% by 2050 from 1990 levels, in addition to a goal of zero emissions in the electricity sector by 2040, and 70% renewable energy generation by 2030, outlined in the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, signed into law in 2019.

As part of these efforts the state is looking to launch 10,000 public electric vehicle charging stations by 2021.