Largest slate of workplace electric vehicle chargers in NH to date unveiled

Executives of Merchants Fleet cut the ribbon in a May 7 ceremony for a project introducing new EV charging infrastructure at the company’s headquarters in Hooksett. (Courtesy photo)

What’s been touted as New Hampshire’s largest workplace electric vehicle charging lot to date opened recently with pomp and circumstance to an outdoor audience of about 50 people.

The general public may never see it, but the site adds 13 charging ports to an already-existing 12 ports at the Hooksett headquarters of fleet management business Merchants Fleet.

Known as the “AmpedUp” project, the new chargers debuted in a ribbon-cutting ceremony the morning of May 7 as part of this year’s NH Energy Week. The celebration drew out Merchants Fleet executives and employees, politicians, state officials and EV and clean energy advocates.

“Setting the bar on sustainable transportation isn’t just a goal for us here; it’s a commitment,” said Merchants Co-CEO Kirk Hoffman in a speech at the ceremony following fellow co-CEO Brad Burgess. “We’re excited to lead the way for businesses across this state and beyond, demonstrating both viability and the benefits of electrifying fleets.”

The AmpedUp project began taking shape in mid-2022 with construction initiating in May 2023, a year before the recent Energy Week unveiling, according to Patrick Mitchell, manager of charging infrastructure for Merchants. Mitchell said the project was entirely self-funded internally by the company, but he did not cite any specific figures, instead calling it a “strong investment” by Merchants.

An Enel X Way-manufactured EV charger is demonstrated powering a “demo” Rivian cargo van at Merchants Fleet’s headquarters in Hooksett. (Photo by Trisha Nail)

The installation came as demand from the company’s employees exceeded the existing 12 ports, 10 of which are in another portion of the property’s parking lot and the other two are outside the building’s loading dock area.

“There are more EVs on the property than what we had charging capacity, so this enhances our employee capabilities,” said Mitchell, whom Merchants hired specifically to guide the company’s EV charging network.

An array of charger manufacturers are on display— Blink, ChargePoint and Enel X Way — all of which can charge popular EV brands like Tesla and Rivian as well as longtime automakers like Ford that now have their own EVs on the market. Mitchell said this diversity of chargers is not only intentional but aligns to Merchants Fleet’s mission of supporting vehicle types used in all styles of commercial industry transportation, whether that’s last-mile delivery, off-road trucking or passenger vehicles.

The new chargers enhance the power of the earlier stations Merchants has used, having higher kilowatt output and amperage of 19.2 kW and 80 amps, Mitchell said. He added that this allows the company to test varying vehicle and charging setups.

In connection with this, Merchants is actively working with companies like Rivian — which is introducing commercial delivery vans into the market — to get a sense of how their products work so that Merchants may make suggestions to its customers, Mitchell said. During a brief show of vehicles using the charging ports, Merchants staff plugged a “demo” Rivian van into one of the stations.

Just five people including Mitchell make up Merchants’ internal EV charging staff, but he said they’re a small but mighty group as the company eyes the potential for more stations at its headquarters and beyond. Infrastructure is already in place to support up to 52 charging ports on the company’s Hooksett property, he said.

“This is a future-proof project; we’ve installed the concrete bases and the conduit in the ground (for additional ports),” he said. “That provides a quick action and deployment capability where if we find another partner and want to test their (EV) product, then we can just run the wire really quickly and we don’t have to open the ground anymore and go through a lot of the construction again. And if we want to remove a station and test a different one, it’s just unplugging and plugging in another.”

And internally, Merchants offers its staff a $2,500 stipend per employee if they buy an EV from the company or somewhere else, along with a $400 bonus if they choose to install a charger in their home, according to Holley Cameron, the company’s assistant director of public relations and corporate marketing.

Democratic gubernatorial candidates Cinde Warmington (middle left) and Joyce Craig (middle right) celebrate the unveiling of new EV chargers at Hooksett-based Merchants Fleet on May 7, standing with company and state officials. (Courtesy photo)

In a series of statements ahead of the ribbon-cutting, New Hampshire political figures praised Merchants for the AmpedUp project and the company’s EV initiatives. U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, represented at the event by her campaign staffer Elizabeth McKenna, said in a prepared statement that she was proud to see the Granite State taking charge on energy-efficient transportation.

U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, who also missed the event with staffer Kerry Zack speaking on her behalf, said that she feels EVs becoming practical will reduce emissions and help businesses and families “strengthen the bottom line and reduce their costs.”

Campaign spokesperson Colin Pio stood in for U.S. Rep Chris Pappas, D-NH, who in a written message said he was “thrilled to see the AmpedUp project come to life.” He touted his support of what he said has been more than $100 million in the past year for NH communities and the state to take on energy-efficiency projects.

Democratic gubernatorial candidates Joyce Craig and Cinde Warmington were both in attendance and shared awe at the scale of the AmpedUp project. Craig, former mayor of Manchester called it “remarkable but not shocking” to see Merchants’ progress in working with businesses around the nation to electrify fleets.

Warmington, also the NH Executive Councilor for District 2, meanwhile spoke of her vision for a stronger, environmentally-friendly future for the state with job opportunities to boot, thanks to work by businesses like Merchants.