Portsmouth is already one of the most popular travel and tourism destinations in New England and very soon it will offer owners of electric cars one more reason to come here.

On Tuesday night, the Portsmouth City Council unanimously approved a request by Port City Nissan to install a free class two electric vehicle charging station at the High/Hanover Street Parking Garage.

Jennifer Fecteau, executive manager at Port City Nissan, said the electric charger would enable the growing number of vehicle owners to come to Portsmouth to recharge their cars and shop and dine downtown.

Fecteau said there are many benefits for the city that has set goals to become known as a green, sustainable community. “It would become a hub for electric car drivers,” she said.

She explained that in order for electric car owners to take trips of more than 100 miles, they have to recharge their car batteries. These vehicles are also equipped with a telematics system called CARWINGS that interacts with the vehicle's on-board navigation system to show electric car owners where chargers are located. They can also use a smart phone app called ChargePoint to direct them to the nearest car charger, she said.

Locally, Fecteau wrote in a letter to City Manager John Bohenko that Port City Nissa is selling the LEAF electric vehicle. Nationally, she wrote that Pike Research indicates the electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles will account for 3.2 million units between 2010 and 2015 with a compound annual growth rate of 106 percent.

Bohenko said Port City Nissan's willingness to let the city have an electric charger at the parking garage at no cost is a great opportunity to allow the city to conduct a pilot program.

“If we are going to continue down the road of sustainability, then it is only a matter of time before we purchase them ourselves,” Bohenko said.

City Councilor Brad Lown also liked the idea of seeing Portsmouth move to the forefront of embracing this technology. “I suspect that if the idea takes off then we are going to need tons of these things,” he said.

Bohenko said one of the things the city can explore is how to charge electric car users a different fee while their vehicles are recharging in the parking garage. For example, if an electric car owner needs to have their vehicle there for a few hours, the city could charge them an extra 25- to 50- cents per hour, he said.

Jon Frederick, the city Parking Department manager, also said the city is getting closer to installing a new credit card payment system at the parking garage that will allow all drivers to pay with plastic instead of cash and this could be beneficial to any electric car owners who use the electric charger.

Neither Frederick or Fecteau could say for sure when the new electric charger would be installed at the High/Hanover Street Parking Garage, but they said it would be soon.