Lanny - Plug-In Sites

The Price is Right?

August 15, 2022August 15, 2022 Lanny

Fairfax County Herrity Building Garage EV Charging — Herrity Garage, Fairfax, VA

“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” – Warren Buffett

The price of a gallon of gas never differs much between gasoline retailers in my area. I’ve paid attention to gas prices lately as they have soared above $5.00 and then retreated a bit. Even though I don’t buy the stuff, a gallon of gasoline at the Exxon station on the corner never varies more than a few cents from the price advertised at the convenience store across the street. Public EV charging prices may be more stable in comparison, but they are not particularly uniform. How do EV charging prices get determined? Public documents from Fairfax County, Virginia give us a glimpse into their particular process for price setting.

Public Charging Fees Set by Fairfax County Board of Supervisors

This month, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a $0.30 per kWh fee for EV charging on county property. They also set an idling fee of $2.00 per hour.

The 30 cents per kilowatt hour is to be paid by members of the public as well as by county employees who charge their private electric vehicles while at work. The “dwell-time” fee of $2.00 per hour kicks in when the vehicle is finished charging after a 10-minute grace period.

The idling fee is to motivate EV drivers to vacate charging spaces at county office buildings when their battery is full. The idling fee is also deliberately intended to apply at Park-and-Ride and Metro garages where EV drivers cannot move their vehicles in the middle of the day. More on that later.

How did Fairfax County come up with these fees? Let’s take a look.

$0.30 per kWh for EV Charging in Fairfax County VA

A report titled “Establishment of Retail Fees for the Charging of Electric Vehicles at County-Owned Charging Stations” was prepared by county staff for the Board of Supervisors. It detailed the rationale for the $0.30 per kilowatt hour pricing and $2.00 per hour dwell-time fee.

The report said that the most important considerations in setting the fees were (1) the costs that are to be recovered by the fees; (2) the user’s ability to access and move their vehicle when charging is completed, and (3) competitiveness with the fees charged by other stations located nearby.

The methodology used to determine the pricing weighed the relative merits of a cost recovery method vs a competitive market approach. The report concluded that while cost recovery was an important consideration, pricing that remained in line with the competitive market took precedence. “Prices that are too high in comparison to those charged by other providers are likely to lead to reduced demand for the service absent some unique benefit.”

Level 2 Prices Conflated with DC Fast Charging

Fairfax County surveyed fees by various EV charging providers in the county but they did not distinguish between Level 2 and DC fast charger pricing. The fees that they compared are summarized in Table 1 of the report:

Clarksburg Condominium II Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

July 29, 2022July 29, 2022 Lanny

Access to reliable and affordable charging where people live is essential to the widespread adoption of electric vehicles.

Robert Borkowski is fortunate to have a garage at his home at Clarksburg Condominium II in order to charge his Tesla. But many of his neighbors in Montgomery County, Maryland do not have a private garage or parking space to install a personal EV charging station. As President of his condo association, Robert decided to look into installing shared charging stations for residents of his condo community who do not have a garage or dedicated parking.

Clarksburg Condominium II Community Buy-in

Getting approval for the project required a “yes” vote from two-thirds of the condo residents. The association sent out a survey to gauge interest among residents for EV charging. Supporters of the project held several community meetings to answer questions and address concerns. They set up a Frequently Asked Questions page on the association’s website about the proposed EV charging stations.

Maryland EVSE Incentives

Taking advantage of available EV charger incentives helped the association manage out of pocket expenses. Keeping the cost down helped persuade some residents who initially opposed the project because of budget concerns. The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) offers a 40% rebate for qualifying EVSE installations. The condo association also applied for incentives from their utility company. Potomac Edison offers up to $20,000 through their EV Driven Multifamily program. In total, the project cost around $60,000. Incentives from the state of Maryland and Potomac Edison amounted to around $44,000. The net cost to the association was around $16,000 after incentives.

The association had to pay the entire costs for the construction up front before receiving the rebates. The Montgomery County Green Bank worked with City First Enterprise’s Small Business Energy Savings Support Program on a $60,000 loan to help facilitate the electric vehicle charging project.

The condo association selected six JuiceBox PRO commercial grade EVSEs from EnelX for the project. These units are connected to a network with accompanying monthly service fees. This allows residents and visitors to pay for their kWh usage via a mobile app. The initial cost for residents is $0.20 per kWh. Visitors can charge for $0.30 per kWh.

The six 40A JuiceBox PRO commercial EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment) are on a new dedicated 400A 3-Phase commercial service. The infrastructure includes capacity to install 11 additional EVSEs in the future.

Clarksburg Condominium DFH — Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo highlights the progress of EVs in Maryland as Clarksburg Condominium II President Robert Borkowski looks on.

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

US Transportation Secretary Says NEVI Program Will Prioritize EV Charging Experience

July 21, 2022November 30, 2022 Lanny

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg testified before Congress on July 19, 2022 about transportation infrastructure.

During the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure hearing, Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux of Georgia’s 7th district asked Secretary Buttigieg about the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program and how the Administration has prioritized the charging experience for consumers “to ensure it’s easy, consistent, and mirrors their current experience at the pump.”

Buttigieg responded, “There’s tons of opportunity but a lot of challenge in getting it right for this electric vehicle infrastructure especially because we’ve not had something like this at scale in the US. It’s very different from the infrastructure for fuel and gas cars. We need to be mindful of that as we go.”

You can imagine, if you are taking a road trip and every third or fourth gas pump didn’t work.
Pete Buttigieg

One thing we are thinking about in particular in regard to the consumer experience is making sure that these charging stations are interoperable and are available. You can imagine, if you are taking a road trip and every third or fourth gas pump didn’t work, or if you had to be a member of a particular gas station chain in order to even use the pump. That would not be a positive or efficient experience. In some places, in some cases in the past, that’s what some EV drivers have faced. So we need to make sure that we are not only getting the dots in the right places on the maps, but paying attention to the quality as well as the quantity of these EV charging stations, especially those that would be supported with taxpayer funds.

Thank you Representative Bourdeaux for asking about the consumers’ experience at EV charging stations. And thank you Secretary Buttigieg for assuring Congress that the Joint Office is mindful of the quality of the EV charging stations that will be installed as part of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program. Reliability of public charging is an important issue. I look forward to seeing how the Administration will ensure accountability.

EV Charger Reliability Standards Report Issued by Maryland PSC Work Group

July 20, 2022November 30, 2022 Lanny

“Consistently delivering on your promise reinforces trust.” ― Bernard Kelvin Clive

Will people develop trust that electricity can replace gasoline as “fuel” for their transportation? This must happen before electric vehicles enter mainstream adoption. Sure, we are told by advocates that 90% of charging is done at home. But we also know that ubiquitous public charging is important to ensure equity so that all citizens may benefit from driving electric. After all, many people do not have access to charging at home or work. For those folks, DC fast chargers are practically their only option. And those chargers better deliver on the promise of convenience, reliability and affordability. Otherwise, people won’t trust the chargers. Consequently, they won’t trust electric cars.

On January 14, 2019, the Maryland Public Service Commission approved a five-year pilot program to allow utilities to install public EV charging stations in their service territory. The utilities promised to maintain a high standard of uptime. BGE was quoted in the Carroll County Times saying, “BGE is being held to the same reliability standards as our electric distribution system, so they must be operational at all times.”

Some EV drivers have raised concerns that the utilities’ public EV chargers are not as reliable as we’d hoped they’d be. The Maryland Public Service Commissioners heard that a charger at Howard County Community College had been down for weeks while the one next to it only delivered a fraction of its promised charging speed.

EV Charger Reliability Standards

In January 2022, the Commission directed the utilities to work with a stakeholder work group to develop public charger reliability standards. The standards, if approved, would be used in the semi-annual progress reports that utilities are required to submit. The standards were to be filed prior to the next semi-annual reports which are due August 1, 2022.

Work Group Asks to Delay Uptime Reporting Until Next Year

Maryland EV Registrations Surpass 50,000 as of June 30, 2022

July 19, 2022October 1, 2022 Lanny

Maryland EV Registrations June 30, 2022 — Plug-in electric vehicles registered in Maryland as of June 30, 2022

There are 50,124 plug-in electric vehicles registered in Maryland as of June 30, 2022. That is a 15,283 increase in the number of Maryland EV registrations over the previous 12 month period according to data from MDOT / Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration.

The 12 month increase in Maryland EV registrations amounts to a 44% rise. This compares to a 35% rise over the previous 12 month period between June 30, 2020 and June 30, 2021.

EVgo Blames AT&T for Outage Sunday Evening

July 18, 2022November 30, 2022 Lanny

Charging Sites Completely Down for Hours

EVgo experienced a widespread network outage Sunday evening as many EV drivers were returning from their weekend travels.

Around 6:30 PM July 17th, I noticed an unusual number of chargers on the EVgo network were reporting as offline and unavailable on the EVgo mobile app. At least 16 sites in Virginia were completely down. See the map above for the locations in Virginia that reported no working chargers.

Around 8:00 PM an electric vehicle driver tweeted that the last six EVgo chargers he tried did not work.

AT&T is experiencing communications issues that is impacting our network, please refer to the EVgo app for current charger status and Plugshare for alternative charging options.
evgo

Virginia Anti-ICEing Law – Map of Enforceable Locations

July 1, 2022December 26, 2022 Lanny

Virginia anti-ICEing sign Penalty up to $25 — Enforceable sign at Electrify America, Tysons Corner Center

$25 fine for violation
Takes effect July 1, 2022
EV charging space must be clearly marked
No violation unless the sign includes: “PENALTY, UP TO $25”
Plug-in vehicle “that is not in the process of charging” violates the law

Virginia lawmakers passed a bill earlier this year that creates a prohibition and a civil penalty for certain vehicles parked in spaces reserved for charging electric vehicles. The law goes into effect today.

To be enforced, the Virginia “anti-ICEing” law requires that the parking space adjacent to an electric vehicle charging station be clearly marked as reserved for charging electric vehicles. Additionally, the sign indicating that the space is reserved for charging electric vehicles must include the following language: “PENALTY, UP TO $25.”

The highly-specific signage requirements detailed in many state and local anti-ICEing laws are often not understood by EV drivers. The police will not be able to enforce these laws, including in Virginia, if the charging space is not designated by signs that meet the criteria in the law. In other words, if there are no signs, there can be no fines.

I’ve learned from years of experience advocating for EV drivers that it is relatively easy to pass an anti-ICEing law. It’s a much greater challenge to convince EV charging operators and site hosts to post the special signs that allow the laws to be enforced.

Eight years ago, I approached my local County Council representative to propose an anti-ICEing ordinance. The Howard County, Maryland Council Bill 36-2014 subsequently passed and went into effect on September 29, 2014. That was the easy part.

The main reason I wanted the ordinance was because publicly-funded EV charging stations on property owned by the Columbia Association were chronically being blocked by gas vehicles. When I contacted Columbia Association, they said that they would not do anything about the problem unless there was a law against it.

After the Howard County ordinance passed, I approached the Columbia Association again to ask that they post enforceable signs. To make a long story short, it took another two years and a lot of effort to finally convince them to post enforceable signs. [Signs Posted at Columbia Association EV Charging Stations]

Colorado EV drivers worked to get a statewide anti-ICEing law passed in 2019. When Colorado HB 1298 passed, Tesla indicated their support for the legislation via the following Tweet.

EV Charging for Condo Residents in Columbia, Maryland

June 9, 2022June 9, 2022 Lanny

Cove and Watermark Place Condominiums in Columbia Maryland

Two properties in Columbia, Maryland are getting Level 2 EV charging for condo residents.

The Cove and Watermark Place are adjacent to one another in the Wilde Lake area of Columbia. They both seem to have coordinated with the BGE EVsmart Multifamily Property program. The installation work for both places was done at the same time.

Watermark Place is a high-rise luxury apartment condo on Windstream Drive across from the Mall. There are eight EV charging ports in the north west side of the parking lot. The Cove is a townhome style community on the lake. They have EVSEs to charge four vehicles simultaneously. They are located in the south east of the parking area in the 10080 block of Windstream Drive.

All the charging stations are made by ChargePoint and are labeled with BGE EVsmart branding.

EV Charging for Condo / Multi-Family Properties

These charging stations are probably part of BGE’s owned and operated EV chargers that are being placed at certain multi-family properties. The Maryland Public Service Commission approved BGE to install and operate 40 Level 2 EV charging stations on multi-family properties. The fee to use these utility owned and operated stations will be the same as the price to use their public charging stations. As of June, 2022, that price is $0.18 per kWh including tax.

BGE is also approved to offer rebates to multi-family properties that wish to install and own the charging equipment themselves. That offering includes a rebate for 50% of the cost of the EV charging equipment and installation up to $5,000 per Level 2 charging port. The rebate program has experienced a slow uptake, likely because the effort and upfront expense must be undertaken by the property managers which can be daunting.

Multi-Family EV Charging Case Studies

The Maryland EV website has several multi-family EV charging case studies.

An Electric Vehicle Charging Station Webinar was recorded by the Chesapeake Region Chapter of CAI.

Maryland Anti-ICEing Law Sign Requirements

May 26, 2022September 28, 2022 Lanny

The Maryland anti-ICEing law that passed this year will go into effect on October 1, 2022.

In order to be enforceable the charging space needs to be designated by a certain sign that, among other requirements, must meet design and placement standards established by the State Highway Administration.

Sign Specifications of Maryland Anti-ICEing Law

Specifically, the law states that a publicly accessible plug–in electric drive vehicle charging space as defined under Transportation Article § 21–1003.2, Annotated Code of Maryland shall be designated by a sign that:

Indicates that the charging space is only for electric vehicle charging;
Includes any day or time restrictions;
States the maximum fine that may be incurred for a violation; and
Is consistent with the design and placement specifications established in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways adopted by the State Highway Administration under § 25–104 of this article.

Guidance Needed to Inform Deployment of Signs

There are guidelines for parking signs at spaces reserved for persons with disabilities under the Maryland Accessibility Code for Buildings and Facilities as established by COMAR 09.12.53.12 PDF link.

For example, ADA parking signs must have the international symbol of access and the words “Reserved Parking”, and conform with the requirements for uniform traffic control devices under Transportation Article, §25-104. Those signs generally must be at least 7 feet above the ground if on a pole.

I hope that the Maryland State Highway Administration will provide similar guidance for signs for electric vehicle charging spaces that will satisfy the requirements of the Maryland anti-ICEing law.

I hope any guidance or standards developed by the state of Maryland will include a suggestion to include text to inform EV drivers that their vehicle must be connected to the charging equipment.

Fast Charger Replaced at Annapolis Library

May 25, 2022September 28, 2022 Lanny

BGE EVsmart Charging Station at Michael E. Busch Annapolis Library

Two years after being commissioned, the BGE fast charger at the Michael E. Busch Library in Annapolis has been replaced.

The original Efacec QC45 DC fast charger was swapped with a Model L3S-50-480-01-001 from BTC Power and is now energized and ready for EV drivers.

The charging stations at the library include four Level 2 connectors and are part of the BGE “EVsmart” network. Drivers use Shell Recharge to start a charging session and pay for usage. The present price is $0.32/kWh for fast charging and $0.18/kWh for Level 2, including MD sales and use tax.

History of Issues

This location opened on March 13, 2020. The site cost $124,029.56 to install according to documents filed with the Maryland Public Service Commission. This does not include the cost of the replacement equipment.

Revenue at this particular site amounted to $1,419.77 through December 31, 2021. The electric bill for that period was $7,313.71 resulting in a loss of $5,893.94 for the first 21 months of operation.

The fast charger at the Annapolis Library has had a history of EV drivers reporting issues. The CHAdeMO connector was damaged in December and BGE said that there was a delay in getting parts.

BGE is not the only charging operator to replace equipment. Electrify America swapped equipment at many of their charging sites. The Columbia, Maryland site was closed for six weeks to replace the hardware in late 2020.

Hopefully the replacement fast charger at the Annapolis Library will renew the confidence of EV drivers and utilization will increase.