BGE Port Availability on 09-23-2024
- L2: 92% (509 of 556)
- DCFC: 76% (68 of 90)
- Goal: 97% Uptime
Charger Audit
In January 2019, the Maryland Public Service Commission approved a limited EV pilot program, paving the way for Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) to build a network of public EV charging stations. Today, BGE operates 123 charging locations across its service territory. The expectation—much like with their residential and commercial electric services—was to maintain high reliability standards for these chargers. BGE, alongside other pilot program utilities, are being held to a 97% uptime target, meaning each charging port (plug) should be operational at least 97% of the time annually.
Overall Port Availability on 09-23-2024: 89%
On September 23, 2024, I conducted a virtual “charger audit” of BGE’s EVsmart network, reviewing the online status of all 646 ports via ChargeHub and Shell Recharge apps. The audit revealed that only 89% of these ports were either in use or online and available for use. This falls well short of the target 97% uptime.
Cause for Concern
This shortfall in reliability raises concerns. With Maryland’s ambitious electric vehicle adoption goals, having nearly one in four fast chargers offline could undermine public confidence in the charging infrastructure—a critical piece in the transition to EVs.
Despite the less than ideal percentage of online charging ports, it’s worth noting that none of BGE’s charging locations were entirely offline. Every site had at least one functioning port, suggesting that while the network isn’t perfect, it’s not entirely offline at any particular sites either.
List of BGE EV Charging Ports that Show Offline on September 23, 2024
Table
Stay tuned for more updates as we track these trends and monitor repairs. Hopefully, we’ll see more of those green “All Online” markers populate the map soon.
