Electric car stations coming to Santa Cruz County

With new plug-in electric cars scheduled to arrive in Santa Cruz County soon, so too should a means to juice them.

That's why a coalition of public and private stakeholders has secured tens of thousands of dollars to begin laying out a network of vehicle charging stations across the Monterey Bay Area.

Unlike the popular Toyota Prius, which has a back-up gasoline engine, many of the forthcoming plug-ins like the Nissan Leaf rely entirely on battery power and require a periodic recharge to keep going. The Monterey Bay Electric Vehicle Alliance, started last year, plans to finance at least 20 charging stations this year and help retrofit the handful that already exist.

"As more of these cars come to market, we really need to prepare our communities," said Sharon Sarris, who helped design one of General Motors' early electric cars and later founded the Monterey Bay alliance.