LEBANON — Fundraising is underway to bring an electric bike charging station to the city’s downtown.
The project would install a solar-powered, three-season outdoor bike charging station outside the Ledyard Charter school near both the Mascoma River Greenway and the Northern Rail Trail.
The project aims to establish the “Upper Valley’s first” e-bike charging station, according to a news release from the city. The next-closest public charging station to Lebanon is 26 miles away in Danbury, N.H.
The charging station, proposed for the west end of the lower portion of the parking lot behind City Hall, will be free to use and powered by solar panels that are set to be mounted on the roof of the Ledyard Charter School building, Lebanon Energy Advisory Committee member Sherry Boschert said in a Monday interview. There will also be a battery to store power for use at night.
The whole project will come at no cost to the city and will be entirely funded through donations.
The project, which is fiscally sponsored by the Friends of Lebanon Recreation, Arts, and Parks, recently received a $3,000 donation from AARP of New Hampshire. The money is enough to cover the cost of the power components, including solar panels and a power station, which are already in hand, Boschert said.
The effort’s next steps include raising another about $4,000 to cover the costs of developing a final design and other equipment, ideally a shelter to cover bikes while they charge, Boschert said.
The goal is to have at least four charging ports, which will include covered cases to charge removable batteries and places to plug in bikes that do not have a removable battery, said committee member Bill Stearns, who spearheaded this phase of the project.
The benefits of e-bikes and a free public charging station are extensive, Boschert said. Though more expensive than a regular bike, an e-bike is cheaper than a car and “it gets you all over,” which can be appealing for people who can’t afford a car or can’t charge at home.
“It’s not some minor solution,” Boschert said. “It’s a solution to global warming; the cost of gas; the cost of maintaining a car.”
The bikes are an especially good fit for older adults. Nationally, 90% of e-bike riders are 45 or older, according to the news release from the city.
The benefit to seniors made the project appealing to AARP, AARP New Hampshire Director Christina FitzPatrick said in an emailed statement Monday.
“The team proposing this project demonstrated the connection between this project and the older adults in their geographic area strongly,” FitzPatrick wrote.
The project also aligns with AARP goals of supporting projects that “make communities even better places to live and age.”
“Bike riding provides alternatives for people who are no longer able to drive or would like to exercise more,” FitzPatrick said. “And e-bikes can make it easier for people to get out in nature, particularly if they don’t necessarily have the strength or stamina to manage riding through hills and valleys.”
After the project didn’t get a grant for a more expensive charging station, Stearns worked to pare back the project, which first launched at the beginning of 2025.
He focused on figuring out which components would be needed for a simpler and less expensive charging station, allowing the city to complete what he said is a “valuable” project as electric bikes become more popular.
“If someone decides they’re going to take a long ride on the rail trail for example, there aren’t a lot of places to stop and charge,” Stearns noted.
Stearns also researched potential issues such as e-bike charging-related fires. Based on his research, he said most charging-related fires happen when people are using batteries that are not certified by the manufacturer.
The committee will focus on ensuring that station users only charge with batteries and chargers that are UL Systems-certified (UL provides safety certifications for consumer products like batteries) and are “sold by or directly approved by the manufacturer,” Stearns said. There will be signage at the charging station warning against improper charging.
“A UL-listed battery has essentially no real chance of catching fire,” Stearns said. “The ones that catch fire are the ones that aren’t tested and are sold very inexpensively online.”
In the unlikely case that there is a fire, Stearns said the charging station will be a standalone structure separated from the Ledyard Charter School building and parked cars.
If the project is successful, it could be used as a prototype to build more charging stations in West Lebanon or other parts of the Upper Valley, Boschert said.
“This is just the beginning and it will help a lot of people who ride the rail trail and the Mascoma Greenway and want to come to downtown Lebanon,” Boschert said.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated which group is managing the fundraising for the e-bike charging project. The Lebanon Energy Advisory Committee is coordinating the project, while the Friends of Lebanon Recreation, Arts and Parks is acting as a fiscal sponsor.