HWS News
14 March 2025 • Sustainability Plugging into Sustainability
HWS expands electric vehicle charging stations on campus.
As students at Hobart and William Smith prepare for their futures, there are visible signs on campus that the future is now. Those signs take the form of 14 new electric vehicle charging stations, adding to the six already in place. These stations further HWS’ commitment to sustainability and address a growing need: more students, faculty and staff members than ever are driving electric vehicles, and those numbers are certain to increase.
Professor of Business Management and Entrepreneurship Tom Drennen, whose 2012 Chevrolet Volt was once the only electric vehicle on campus, says demand for charging had increased so dramatically that he “could never plug in” before the new stations came online in December 2024. “It’s crazy,” he says.
Drennen, who holds the Stine Family Endowed Chair in Business Management and Entrepreneurship, was the visionary behind the project, according to Chris Button, Drennen’s partner in the endeavor. Button, the associate director for planning and construction at Sodexo, handled the procurement and installation of the charging stations.
They were not alone, however. Tom Murray P ’25, president and managing partner of Lumalon, headquartered in Pittsford, N.Y., who worked with HWS previously on converting standard lighting on campus to LED lighting, was instrumental in the success of the new project. Murray’s company installed the new stations and brokered the federal and state grants that made the project financially viable. Murray’s “expertise is getting grants to fund energy-saving projects” like this, Button says.
With Murray's help, HWS secured state grants that provided $126,000 of the $200,000 total price tag. Drennen and Button emphasize that New York State Electric and Gas Co. was another critical player in the project. “Their field engineers went above and beyond to help us,” Button says.
The increase in charging stations puts HWS in the vanguard of small colleges with these facilities, according to Drennen and Button. “We wanted to be a leader in small colleges in the electric vehicle revolution,” Drennen says.
The EV stations are part of HWS’ institutional goal, first articulated by President Mark D. Gearan in 2007, of achieving carbon neutrality by 2025. HWS reached the milestone a year early. “One-hundred percent of our electricity comes from either our two solar farms or wind sources,” Drennen explains, "so anyone who charges on campus knows that their car has a zero-carbon footprint.”
The new stations also address a more practical and pressing need. It takes six hours to charge one EV on the HWS chargers and with the increase in the number of EV’s on campus, the six older stations “were always full.” Drennen says. “We needed more. They’re always in use and there’s competition to get them.”
The chargers can be accessed through one of two smartphone apps – EV Connect or PlugShare. Ten of the new ones are in the Scandling Campus Center parking lot and another four are adjacent to the Katherine D. Elliot Studio Arts Center, to go with two already in place outside Buildings and Grounds and four at the Adams Intercultural Center. And – and it’s a big “and” -- they are free. That’s something Drennen and Button had not counted on when they began their execution of the project. Drennen says he always has HWS students working with him on sustainability projects, and on this one, he had three. One created a financial model to be presented to HWS Vice President for Finance and Administration Mark Edwards. “I was convinced we had to show the school that it wouldn’t cost them any money,” Drennen says. But Edwards didn’t need convincing. “He said, ‘Ah, let’s just make it free right now,’” Drennen recalls.
That decision, says Drennen and Button, will be important to future students, faculty and staff as they make decisions about joining the HWS community. "And," Drennen says, "it's a great initiative for our campus community and has been very beneficial to the students who have worked on this and other sustainability projects over the years. As a student, it's important to see the results of your research in action."
The chargers are now operating at about 50 percent capacity during the day, Drennen says, more than sufficient to satisfy demand. For now. The future, however, isn’t far off. “I’d say we’ll probably need more within five years," he adds.
Top: Associate Director for Planning and Construction Chris Button and the Stine Family Endowed Chair and Professor of Business Management and Entrepreneurship Tom Drennen pose with a charging station in the Scandling Campus Center parking lot.
