Locals got electric last night in Lexington as the town held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially celebrate the opening of the town’s first electric vehicle charging stations.

Town and state officials, as well as energy-interested individuals gathered around the EV stations, located in municipal lot behind the NSTAR substation in Lexington Center at 4 Grant St. Several vehicles, including a Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf and a Ford/Azure Dynamics Transit Connect Electric Van were on hand to display just how the stations work.

The installation includes two stations with four plug-ins that reach four metered parking spaces at the far end of the lot. The town was awarded these stations by the state’s Department of Energy Resources, through a program announced over the summer here on the Battle Green.

The award came after a grant application from the town’s Transportation Advisory Committee and a push from Town Manager Carl Valente, according to selectmen Chairman Hank Manz, who said during the ceremony he felt like he was at the Oscars trying to remember who to thank. 

“This is a typical Lexington project,” said Manz. “An awful lot of people helped and made it happen.”  

Following the award, the town went to work thinking about where to install the stations and considered several different locations. In the end, the only suitable location it could come up with was in the municipal lot just outside the center, where it now has two stations with four plugs.

According to Stephen Russell, alternative transportation program coordinator and Massachusetts Clean Cities Coalition director, the town’s award would have supported just the four hook-ups it has now.

For now, the juice available through these stations is free, as part of the town’s effort to encourage utilization of this green technology – though motorists must pay the meters for the parking spaces. 

The next step toward embracing electric vehicle technology would be for Lexington, which already has a hybrid-heavy population, to begin adding electric vehicles to its fleet, said  Larry Link, a member of the Transportation Advisory Committee.