Sometimes the smartest way to move forward is to start with what is already there.

When Butler students began asking for electric vehicle charging on campus, the University was already looking for ways to meet that growing need. Then the City of Indianapolis brought another piece of the solution to the table.

Underground infrastructure from Indianapolis’ former BlueIndy electric car-sharing program remained in the Hinkle Fieldhouse parking lot. Working together, Butler and the City found a way to put it back to use.

This summer, the University installed six Level 2 EV chargers across campus: four in the southwest corner of the Hinkle Fieldhouse surface lot and two on the first floor in the northeast corner of the Sunset Avenue Parking Garage.

All six are available for public use, expanding charging access for students, faculty, staff, visitors, and the surrounding community.

For Julia Angstmann, Executive Director of Sustainability, the project started with what Butler was hearing from students.

“We had students asking about it,” Angstmann said. “We had heard that students were sometimes opting not to bring their cars to campus or swapping cars with their parents because they didn’t feel like there was enough charging infrastructure on campus.”

The opportunity extended beyond campus. As Butler explored the project, the University found relatively few public charging options in the Midtown area. Adding chargers could serve students and employees while also providing a resource for campus visitors and neighbors.

“We thought it would be a great amenity, not just for our visitors to campus, but also for the broader community,” Angstmann said.

The City helped open a path forward by approaching Butler about the infrastructure remaining from BlueIndy. Four former charging locations in the Hinkle lot could be repurposed, reducing the additional infrastructure needed to bring EV charging to that part of campus.

“Finding new ways to use existing infrastructure is an important part of building a more connected and sustainable Indianapolis,” Mo McReynolds, Director of the Office of Sustainability for the City of Indianapolis, said. “This partnership with Butler puts these former BlueIndy sites back to work while expanding a resource that can benefit students, visitors, and the surrounding community.”

Butler funded the four Hinkle chargers, building on the existing infrastructure to make the project possible.

Another opportunity helped expand the project. Butler received a $10,000 grant through GOEVIN, an initiative supporting the expansion of electric vehicle charging infrastructure across Indiana. The funding supported a portion of the cost of the two chargers in the Sunset Avenue Parking Garage, with the University funding the remaining costs.

For Angstmann, projects like this are most meaningful when sustainability progress also makes practical and financial sense.

“For me, it’s a sign that the University is moving toward some of those sustainability goals and doing it in a way that makes financial sense and provides safe access to charging for our campus community,” she said.

The chargers are one part of Butler’s broader Sustainability and Climate Action Plan, which calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. Reaching those long-term goals will require changes across campus, from how Butler uses energy to how people travel to and from the University.

The new chargers will also help Butler understand how demand is changing. The system tracks charging sessions, energy use, charging duration, and station utilization, giving the University data it can use to determine whether additional charging infrastructure is needed in the future.

For drivers, using the chargers is straightforward. Charging costs $0.40 per kilowatt-hour. Faculty, staff, and students do not need an additional parking permit to use the chargers, although they must maintain a valid Butler parking permit to park on campus. Visitors using the Sunset Avenue Parking Garage pay the garage’s hourly rate or event parking fees in addition to charging costs; parking in the Hinkle lot is free, except during events when event parking fees apply.

During standard campus operations, vehicles may occupy a charging space for up to four hours, followed by a 30-minute grace period. After that, a $10-per-hour idle fee applies to help keep the chargers available for other drivers. During athletic, arts, and other special events with paid parking, the four-hour limit does not apply. Non-electric vehicles parked in designated charging spaces are subject to parking citations.

Six chargers won’t accomplish Butler’s sustainability goals on their own. But they represent the kind of progress those goals require: listening to what the community needs, making smart use of the resources already available, and working together to turn possibility into something useful.