Category: Featured Plug In Site

Downtown Columbia, Maryland now has a dozen more Level 2 EV charging connectors. The ChargePoint EVSEs are located in the garage at Broken Land Parkway and Divided Sky Lane in the Merriweather District in downtown Columbia. Map link

The parking garage serves the offices, restaurants and retail establishments in the buildings called One and Two Merriweather. Cured Table & Tap and 18th & 21st are two of the restaurants in those buildings.

These charging stations add to the existing 40 charging ports at Merriweather District that opened in early 2020. The Mall in Columbia has 14 Volta charging stations that are free for up to two hours of use.

Near the Merriweather District, BGE operates six charging stations at the Central Branch of the Howard County Library. These utility-owned public charging stations are part of a five-year ratepayer-funded pilot program approved by the Public Service Commission in 2019. The Level 2 stations at the library cost $0.18/kWh to use.

The garage at One and Two Merriweather has two charging stations on the ground floor. Each of those two stations can charge two cars simultaneously. There are additional stations on levels 2, 3, 4 and 5. The EV charging stations are currently free however they require a ChargePoint account to activate a session.

A new dual-port Level 2 charging station is now open at Dorsey’s Search Meeting Room and Pool in Columbia, Maryland.

The EVSE was recently installed by the Columbia Association.

This is the eighth site to have EV charging stations installed by the Columbia Association. The other locations are at Owen Brown Community Center, Columbia Gym, Supreme Sports Club, Athletic Club (2), Long Reach Tennis Club (2), The Other Barn in Oakland Mills and The Hawthorn Center in Hickory Ridge.

Dorsey’s Search

The charging station operates on the ChargePoint network. You can use a ChargePoint RFID card or their app to activate a charging session. The usage fee is $0.20 per kWh, the same as at the other Columbia Association EV charging locations.

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Located in Historic District

There is a Level 2 charging station available to the public in historic downtown Middletown, Maryland. The Middletown EV charging station is a dual-port ChargePoint and is located in the municipal parking lot at 119 Washington, Street.

The Middletown EV charging station is part of the Potomac Edison owned and operated EV charging network. The utility operates charging stations as far west as Deep Creek Lake where they have two DC fast chargers at the Visitor Center.

The slogan for Main Street Middletown is, “Where Charm and History Meet.” There is plenty of history to explore in Middletown and the Main Street has restaurants and ice cream to cool off while charging your car.

Let us know if you get out to Middletown and use the charging station there.

120 Volt Outlets for Electric Vehicle Charging

Traveling through Vermont this summer, we spotted a blue and white EV charging wayfinding sign along State Route VT-107 between Bethel and Royalton. This particular sign was remarkable because it had “LEVEL 1” printed on it. We did a U-turn and pulled into the Royalton Park & Ride lot to investigate.

The parking lot was full of the “EV LEVEL 1” signs attached to light posts. Beneath each sign was a 120V outlet about waist high on the light poles. In total there were 16 power outlets for EV charging in the lot.

The Royalton Park & Ride lot opened in November, 2020 and cost about $834,000 to construct. The winning bidder, L & M Service Contractors, budgeted $158.80 for each Level 1 electric vehicle outlet according to a Vermont Agency of Transportation Bid Results document. Most of the other bids were around $1,000 per outlet with $1,250 being the highest. It’s hard to tell from the bid results exactly what the specifications were for installing the outlets.

A VTrans map of Vermont Park & Ride lots shows there are other locations with Level 1 EV charging outlets. Randolph has seven Level 1 outlets, Colchester has 11 Level 1 outlets and Middlesex has two Level 2 charging stations in its Park & Ride lot.

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Caledonia State Park is located along US 30 in Pennsylvania between Chambersburg and Gettysburg. The 1,125-acre park is open every day of the year from sunrise to sunset.

About a year ago, the park installed two ClipperCreek electric vehicle charging stations. The 50 Amp Level 2 stations are available to the public and are located in parking lot #2 near the picnic area restrooms.

Hiking, Camping and Other Activities

Caledonia State Park has camping, swimming and picnic tables. The famous Appalachian Trail traverses the park and you may even see people hiking through with backpacks on their journey from Georgia to Maine. There are 10 miles of hiking trails within the 1,125-acre park for folks who may not be so adventurous.

The park is also home of the Thaddeus Stevens Blacksmith Shop. The shop and Iron Furnace were part of the Caledonia Iron Works which operated between 1837 and 1895.

The EV charging stations in Caledonia State Park are part of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources initiative to install charging equipment at more than 40 state parks and forests in the state to help improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gases.

Similar EV charging programs are underway at state parks in West Virginia and Delaware.

For more information about EV initiatives in Pennsylvania, see: Amped 2021: How State Government Is Supporting More Electric Vehicle Use in Pennsylvania.

A Tesla Supercharger is now open at the Wawa store at 3166 Solomons Island Rd, Edgewater, Maryland.

The Edgewater, MD Supercharger has eight charging stalls rated at 250 kW max. They are located in the parking lot on the north side of the Wawa store.

The Edgewater Supercharger is about four miles south of the very popular Annapolis Supercharger. Perhaps some of the Tesla drivers will make the trek down Rt. 2/Solomons Island Rd to use the faster 250 kW Version 3 (V3) Superchargers at the Wawa. Annapolis has Version 2 Superchargers (150 kW) which are not quite as fast.

This Supercharger took over six months to complete from the time that equipment first appeared on at the site in March. This is longer than it usually takes and that could be due to a variety of factors that we don’t know.

We are watching a number of other Tesla Superchargers that are currently under construction in the greater Washington, DC area. These include: Laurel, MD – Van Dusen Road; Aberdeen, MD – Churchville Road; Abingdon, MD; Winchester, VA; and Bealeton, VA.

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Earlier this year, we took an EV day trip to the eastern shore and visited the small town of Betterton in Kent County, Maryland.

Jewel of the Chesapeake

Betterton, known as the Jewel of the Chesapeake, was a popular beach resort in the early 1900s. People would cross the bay on steamboats to enjoy summer days and nights at the beach. Betterton was replete with hotels, restaurants, dance halls, taverns and amusement arcades. The resort town declined in popularity in the 1930s due to the depression and the rise of the automobile which enabled easier access to the Atlantic beaches such as Ocean City.

Today, Betterton is a quiet community where many have come to retire or have a second home. There are two restaurants in town including Marzella’s by the Bay where we ordered lunch to go during our visit.

Utility-Owned Level 2 Stations

There are two electric vehicle charging stations located behind the Betterton Town Hall at 100 Main Street. The stations were installed by Delmarva Power as part of an EV charging pilot program approved by the Maryland Public Service Commission. Delmarva owns the stations and Greenlots is the network operator that collects payments and handles customer service.

$71,612 for Labor, Material and Overhead

The total cost for the two Level 2 stations was $71,612 according to a report filed with the Maryland PSC. The implementation cost for the Betterton EV charging site is broken down as follows:

$26,663 Labor
$17,387 Material
$27,562 Utility Admin & Overhead
$71,612 Total EVSE location cost

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Universal Electric Vehicle Charging for City Dwellers

Are concentrated hubs of DC fast chargers the solution to charging personal electric vehicles in the urban environment? Revel, a New York City-based electric transportation company, is testing the concept of EV charging Superhubs.

I recently visited the Revel Superhub in Brooklyn and it was impressive. The charging stations are located in an open parking lot at 467 Marcy Ave in the Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn. There are 25 charging stations all wrapped in bright blue, the same color as the fleet of Teslas that Revel uses in their electric vehicle ride hailing service.

The Revel Superhub uses 25 stand-alone fast chargers manufactured by Tritium. The RTM75 fast chargers can deliver up to 75 kW according to specifications. The Tritium fast chargers came stock with both a CCS and a CHAdeMO connector.

Universal Chargers Adapted for Teslas

Revel has retrofitted all but three of the chargers with an off-the-shelf Tesla CHAdeMO adapter that allows Tesla vehicles to use the chargers. This is a clever work around to allow Revel to serve the Tesla market which comprises the majority of electric vehicles on the road right now. This is similar to what EVgo is doing with their DC fast chargers. [EVgo Adds Tesla Plugs to DMV Area Fast Chargers]

The EV charging Superhub is open to the public 24/7. In contrast to many other fast charging sites in New York City, there is no entrance fee or cost for parking. All you pay for is the electricity itself which is $0.39 per kilowatt hour plus tax.

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Near I-95 at Konterra and Van Dusen Roads

A new Supercharger is under construction at the Royal Farms Store at 6901 Van Dusen Rd, Laurel, Maryland. This will be a 250 kW (V3) Tesla Supercharging site and is expected to have eight stalls.

This site is less than a mile from I-95 and will be a more convenient alternative for travelers than the original Laurel, MD Supercharger that opened in 2016 at Laurel Towne Centre.

Construction of new Tesla Superchargers in the greater Washington, DC area has accelerated in the last year. Stay tuned for developments on this and other electric vehicle charging stations in the DC, Maryland and Virginia area.

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Officials cut the ceremonial ribbon to open the new Howard County Courthouse yesterday. [map] The building is designed to be certified LEED Gold for environmental sustainability. Solar arrays on the roof and the adjacent field are projected to produce 1,177,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year which is roughly the amount of electricity for powering 141 homes.

Howard County Courthouse Parking Garage

A 682-space parking garage is located next to the courthouse building. The garage is equipped with electric vehicle charging stations. The Level 2 EVSEs are from EVBox and deliver up to 32 Amps each.

The new courthouse and garage are built on the former site of the Howard County Dorsey Building which hosted the first Howard County public charging stations. I attended the dedication ceremony of those charging stations on November 7, 2011. See: First Public Charging Stations in Howard County

There is no fee to use the charging stations and no authentication is required. Not sure if it will always remain free. There are gates and payment kiosks to pay for parking but they were not yet activated.

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