Category: Featured Plug In Site

Tanger Outlets in Rehoboth Beach, DE has three centers along Route 1: Bayside, Seaside and Surfside. Each one of these now has two ChargePoint dual-port charging stations. That’s four J-1772 charging connectors at each center for a total of 12 charging ports. This is part of an initiative to bring EV charging stations to Tanger Outlets nationwide. Tanger Outlet Centers in Hershey and Lancaster, Pennsylvania already have charging stations.

The finishing touches such as signs and paint still are being applied, but power is already on at the Seaside and Surfside locations. The charging stations at the Bayside outlet center are installed but awaiting power.

Two high-amp Level 2 charging stations are now open at Surfside Park in downtown Rehoboth Beach. The addition of these 12 charging ports means that Rehoboth Beach now has enough public EV charging stations to handle 14 electric vehicles at once.

Who’s going to the beach in their electric car this summer? Where will you charge?

@Lanny

Royal Farms Store Fast Charging price: $.39 per kWh, $2.00 minimum.

The ChargePoint Network map is showing a new DC Fast Charger that supports both SAE Combo and CHAdeMO located at 6210 Allentown Rd, Camp Springs, MD. This is a new Royal Farms Store that opened on June 15, 2015 and is apparently the first location from the Maryland EVIP Fast Charger Grant to be installed. @MDVolt posted some photos.

Usage is free for the first 30 days and then $.39 per kWh, $2.00 minimum after July 15, 2015.

@Lanny

Follow Plug In Sites to keep up with EV Infrastructure developments in DC, Maryland, Virginia and beyond.

The Baltimore Department of Public Works is coordinating with the Electric Vehicle Institute, Inc., to install a number of Level 2 charging stations at up to six parking locations. Some of the parking facilities are now without any charging stations and others will be an expansion of the existing charging infrastructure installed about three years ago. Initially, it will be free to use these new stations.

New charging locations planned:
Fleet & Eden, 501 S. Eden St.
Marriott, 405 W. Lombard St.
On-street parking at Light and E. Barre St. in front of the Royal Sonesta.

Expansion of existing locations:
Arena, 99 S. Howard St.
Water Street, 414 Water Street
Redwood Street, 11 S. Eutaw Street

@PlugInSites

In 2013, the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) secured $1,000,000 to fund the installation of EV charging stations at rail transit stations. Parsons Brinckerhoff presented a study to the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Council on November 13, 2013 to help identify transit stations with the highest demand for EV charging based on socioeconomic factors and the travel patterns of public transit passengers.

The following locations are due to have charging stations installed this summer. Milford Mill Metro Station, Lutherville Light Rail Station, North Linthicum Light Rail Station, Cromwell Light Rail Station, West Baltimore MARC Station, Halethorpe MARC Station, Muirkirk MARC Station, Monocacy MARC Station

Many of the locations have broken ground and some, like this one in Beltsville, look to be ready to be powered on.

All the charging spots have signs designating them for Electric Vehicles only.

@Lanny

Town’s Mayor Drives a Honda Fit Electric Vehicle

When a resident of Mount Airy, Maryland suggested EV charging stations to encourage more visitors to the shops and restaurants in the quaint, historic downtown area, the Mayor took to the idea immediately. Mayor Pat Rockinberg of Mt. Airy happens to drive a Honda Fit EV and knows the lure of charging stations because he has experienced it himself on travels in his electric vehicle.

With support of the Council President, Peter Helt, and work donated by local electrician Mike Dixon of Electrical Solutions, the town now has a dual port charging station in the Municipal Parking Lot at Park Ave. and Cross St.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on May 11, 2015 and visitors are now welcome to plug in and charge for free while they “stop, shop and stroll” the downtown area. This is an example of a trend to court “EV Tourism” that is already popular in Oregon and Arizona.

Mount Airy Main Street has shops to browse including a pottery shop and a model train store.

There are charging stations at Linganore Winery about six miles away and Mt. Airy is a perfect place to get an extra boost during a lunch or dinner stop on an EV tour of this area.

Be sure to tell the shop keepers that you came to visit because of the charging stations installed by the town. This may help encourage other communities to consider EV charging to lure visitors.

@PlugInSites

Our friend Rick Rohn from Martinsburg, WV reports that there is a new NRG eVgo Freedom Station at Hagerstown Premium Outlets. Rick was out driving his Nissan Leaf this weekend and stopped by the Outlets in Hagerstown and to his surprise there was a functioning CHAdeMO and a Level 2 EVSE that is installed but not operational yet. The customer service rep at NRG eVgo says the station is in “testing phase” and should be officially open by the end of May, 2015.

This NRG eVgo station apparently has no relationship with the Maryland Energy Administration’s Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program (EVIP) Fast Charger network. When the grant awards were announced in March, Hagerstown Premium Outlets was identified as a location awarded to ChargePoint, not NRG eVgo. Also, the EVIP program specifies that each site must have both CHAdeMO and SAE Combo Fast Charging. This only has CHAdeMO.

The CHAdeMO station is located on the opposite side of the Mall from the Tesla Superchargers there. It is behind the Rack Room Shoes and Children’s Place stores.

@PlugInSites

UPDATE – July 13, 2015: Rehoboth Beach “Charging Up Delaware” Level 2 stations are now online and available to use.

Concrete has been poured for the two High-Amp Level 2 (HAL2) charging stations that are being installed in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The stations are located at two parking spaces at a small park next to the Henlopen Condominiums near the north end of the boardwalk.

These are part of the “Charging Up Delaware” program, a partnership with the University of Delaware and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) to place EV charging stations in Delaware at 50 mile intervals to enable en-route and destination charging throughout the entire state.

View Larger Map

The triangular-shaped park sometimes referred to as Mariner’s Park but labeled Surfside Park on the map, has metered parking during the vacation season.

These stations were first proposed on May 5, 2014, when Professor Willett Kempton of the University of Delaware made a presentation to the city commissioners. The HAL2 EVSEs with J-1772 connectors are manufactured by Milbank and can deliver up to 75 Amps of AC power.

The funding is provided by an $80,000 state grant. Charging stations in the Charging Up Delaware program are also installed at the Delaware Welcome Center in Newark and the Ferry Terminal in Lewes.

@PlugInSites

The newly opened Capital Crescent Parking Garage in Bethesda, Maryland has 1,250 parking spaces including six spots reserved for Electric Vehicle charging. The five-floor underground garage is at Woodmont and Bethesda Ave, close to Bethesda Row with many entertainment and dining options.

Use the South Woodmont entrance of the garage to get to the charging stations on Level G1 (green). When using the elevator, get off at the G (blue) Level.
The Capital Crescent Garage requires payment 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM Mon-Fri. Parking is free on Sat, Sun & holidays. The three, dual L2 ChargePoint stations cost $0.13 / kWh to charge.

The charging spots are marked with a rectangular “EV” symbol on the floor and signs indicating “No Parking Except Electric Vehicles.” There are also signs indicating “Four Hour Parking” at the charging spots. Despite the signs, there have been some ICE cars spotted there which means they are probably violating Montgomery County Code §31-26B and may be subject to being fined.

@PlugInSites

I had heard that Maryland Department of General Services (DGS) had received a grant from the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) for a pilot program of 10 Level 1 EV charging stations in the Calvert Street Garage in Annapolis. The garage, at 19 St. Johns St., is very close to the House of Delegates office building where I testified last week. So, when I was headed back to my car, I decided to take a shortcut through the garage (which is reserved for state employees during business hours) to see if I could spot them.

Sure enough, on the bottom floor, on the wall on the right as you would enter by car, were ten 120v outlets positioned at chest level, one in front of each parking spot for an entire row of spaces. Each outlet box was labeled with a strip of white tape, “CAR CHARGER,” followed by numbers 1 through 10. The outlet boxes were supplied by wiring in brand new metal conduit. Each box had a pair of 20 Amp GFCI sockets under a hinged plastic cover.

There were no signs up yet identifying the EV charging spots but I expect they may be placed soon. The garage already houses one of the first public charging stations in the state. It is a dual port L1/L2 ChargePoint station and I saw that two cars were using it when I walked by on Thursday. There are 720 parking spaces in the entire garage with 12 spots, or almost 2% of the spaces, dedicated to plug-in vehicle charging.

When the 120v EV charging outlets were first proposed, DGS had three concerns, liability for possible damage to cars, the garage was already at full capacity and nobody was asking for more charging stations. Evidently, those objections were overcome and it will be interesting to follow how successful the pilot program will become. The garage is open to the public on weekdays after 6:00 PM and all day Saturday and Sunday.

@Lanny

Looking for the first SAE Combo Fast Charger in the Washington, DC area? It turns out that you may have to travel almost to Richmond to find it. On Wednesday, February 4, 2015, Mac McManus of Mac’s Service Center cut the ceremonial ribbon to inaugurate a dual-port DC Fast Charger with both CHAdeMO and CCS charging options at his hybrid and electric specialty repair shop in Ashland, VA.

This is probably the first public SAE Combo station in this part of the country and the first DC Fast Charger in the Richmond area other than the Tesla Superchargers in Glen Allen. It is a Signet Systems FC50K-CC-S 50 kW model.

Virginia Clean Cities was on hand for the grand opening. They partnered with Mac’s Service Center in the installation which reportedly cost $55,000. The representative from Virginia Clean Cities said there are more fast chargers to be installed in the state from Staunton to Virginia Beach. The next closest fast charger at the moment is a CHAdeMO station at a Nissan dealer in Fredericksburg, VA.

McManus says the Fast Charger is free for now and available 24/7. You will need the Greenlots smartphone app to start a session. There are restaurants nearby and you can stop in to check out Mac’s which services all types of hybrid and electric cars. They have plenty of electric and hybrid car info on the Mac’s Service Center Facebook page.

Video of the ribbon cutting ceremony on February 4, 2015.

@Lanny