BEMIDJI, Minn.  — With more car owners opting to “plug it in” rather than “fill it up,” local groups are coming together to provide electric vehicle charging stations at three locations in Bemidji.

At a press conference and demonstration Tuesday outside of City Hall, representatives from Otter Tail Power Co. and Bemidji State University  joined Mayor Rita Albrecht and City Manager Nate Mathews to announce their partnership that’s providing the charging units.

The partnership had been in the works for a few years, Mathews said, with Otter Tail Power purchasing and installing the systems at all three of the locations.

Darren Matetich, Otter Tail operations manager, said the company built and installed the three units with help from North Country Electric at a cost of between $3,000 and $4,000 each.

The locations for the three stations are:

-The City Hall parking lot.

-The Paul Bunyan Park parking lot.

-The Bangsberg Fine Arts Complex parking lot.

“We’re helping people plug in their electric vehicle and also opening the door for more people to come into Bemidji with those types of cars,” Matetich said. “EVs are definitely here to stay, there are more and more of them and hopefully we’re on the front edge of providing for that need.”

Mathews said electricity will be free on the city lots while BSU will utilize a permit system for its charging station. To provide for the electricity, Mathews said the city will add more accounts directly related to the two stations. It usually takes three to four hours to fully charge an electric car, officials said.

“I always think some governments don’t always look to the future and I’d like to think that with this we’re planning for the future,” Albrecht said. “While there may not be a lot of electric vehicles around now, we know the number is increasing every day. We as a community want to be prepared for that, whether it’s used by our citizens or visitors.”

According to Plug In America, 478,510 electric vehicles have been sold to date in the United States.