The City of Prairie Village has long been known for its charming village-like ambiance and abundance of green space, including almost 35,000 trees and over 64 acres of parks. The community is proud of their continual innovations to maintain a high quality of livability, so when Evergy offered to install electric vehicle charging stations in the area, it was a great fit for the community.

Since the 1980s, when the Prairie Village Environmental Committee was established, sustainability has routinely had a place at the top of the City Council’s agenda. In recent years, a Carbon Footprint Initiative Council was added to discuss topics such as clean energy, as well as creating a more connected city for walkers, bikers, electric vehicles and more. 

After the birth of the Clean Charge Network in 2015, EV owners in Prairie Village anxiously waited for their city to install stations, even writing letters to the City Council to express their desire. “We became aware that there was a void in the network map where somebody would need a charging station,” says Wes Jordan, City Administrator of Prairie Village.

The city started a collaboration with First Washington Realty to pave the way for charging stations at the Village Shops at 71st and Mission and Corinth Square at 83rd and Mission, which went live in November of 2019. The two shopping centers are popular gathering hubs for residents of Prairie Village.

In its January 2019 edition, the Prairie Village Voice identified that “communities that have installed EV chargers continue to reap the rewards as EV drivers prioritize locations where they can charge and shop, work, or play at the same time.”The City of Prairie Village has a budget set for 2020 and plans to install electric vehicle chargers in a third location in their community, which is yet to be determined.