EV charging from a driver's perspective.
If you plan to buy a plug-in electric vehicle in Maryland soon, you may have to wait until July to have your excise tax credit refund processed. According to the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration, the funds for the current fiscal year are now depleted. The MVA says that no additional refunds will be processed until July, 2019 when they will then be processed in the order that the applications are received.
This bulletin to auto dealers is dated November 19, 2018:
Starting January 11, 2019, Howard County, Maryland will require electric vehicle charging infrastructure at all new residential construction. This includes one EV charging station for each 25 units at apartments, condominiums and hotels. Single family homes will have to be pre-wired for future installation of charging equipment.
Howard County is one of the first in the nation to enact an “EV-Ready” ordinance. Several cities in California have passed such legislation and Atlanta adopted an EV charging infrastructure readiness requirement for new construction in November, 2017.
The Howard County Council approved CB76-2018, sponsored by Councilwoman Jen Terrasa, on October 29, 2018. Councilwoman Terrasa stated, “This is an important move forward for electric vehicles and for the environment.”
The text of the bill can be found here.
The City of Beverly Hills made changes to their Electric Vehicle Charging Policy on April 2, 2018 which were designed to encourage more efficient use of the city-operated 35 public charging stations. A controversial aspect of the new policy was to prohibit plug-in hybrid electric vehicles from using the charging stations.
The city also implemented EV charging fees, updated signs to reserve charging spots exclusively for battery-only electric vehicles and defined a new enforcement regulation to fine and/or tow all other vehicles including plug-in hybrids, gas-only vehicles and any all-battery EV that didn’t activate a charging session.
California State Senator Ricardo Lara, authored SB 1000 which contained a provision that barred local municipalities from restricting plug-in hybrids from using public EV charging stations funded using state or ratepayer money.
65850.9. (a) A city, county, or city and county shall not restrict which types of electric vehicles, including, but not limited to, plug-in hybrid vehicles, may access an electric vehicle charging station approved for passenger vehicles that both is publicly accessible and the construction of which was funded, at least in part, by the state or through moneys collected from ratepayers.
Howard County, Maryland has passed legislation to require EV charging infrastructure at new residential construction.
This legislation is one of the first of its kind outside of California. In November, 2017, the city of Atlanta adopted an EV charging infrastructure readiness requirement for new construction. At the time, Georgia ranked second behind California for sales of electric vehicles.
The Howard County Council voted unanimously to approve CB76-2018 sponsored by Councilwoman Jen Terrasa who said, “This is an important move forward for electric vehicles and for the environment.”
A public hearing on CB76 was held on October 15, 2018 and brought out a number of EV drivers, future EV drivers and organizations such as the Howard County Citizens Association to testify in support of the bill.
The Maryland Building Industry Association (MBIA) and the Maryland Multi-Housing Association (MMHA) opposed the bill. Some of their concerns were addressed by an amendment that included language to clarify that the bill applied only to new construction.
Councilwoman Terrasa summarized the bill:
“This legislation does two things. For newly constructed communities with townhomes without garages or driveways, apartments, or condos, a community-accessible electric vehicle charging station must be installed at the ratio of 1 charging station per 25 units. For newly constructed single family homes or townhomes with garages or driveways, the developer is required to install what wiring so that the homeowner can easily complete the installation of a charging unit.”
U.S. Senator John Barrasso, chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, introduced The Fairness for Every Driver Act, S.3559 which seeks to repeal the federal electric vehicle tax credit which currently offers up to $7,500 on new EV purchases. Senator Barrasso, who represents Wyoming, said, “The electric vehicle tax credit largely benefits the wealthiest Americans and costs taxpayers billions of dollars.”
“This legislation will save billions in taxpayer funds by ending the federal electric vehicle tax credits and strengthen the Highway Trust Fund by ensuring that alternative fuel vehicle drivers pay into it,” said Barrasso. “My legislation levels the playing field for all drivers across America. Gas, electric, and alternative fuel vehicles use the same roads. All should contribute to maintain them.”
The Fairness for Every Driver Act will require a federal highway user fee on alternative fuel vehicles that will be applied to the Highway Trust Fund.
Specifically, the legislation would:
A House bill, H.R.6274, sponsored by Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont seeks to extend the EV tax credit for ten years and make the credit available to an unlimited number of EV buyers.
Read the text of Sen. Barrasso’s legislation here.
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Howard County, Maryland Councilwoman Jen Terrasa has introduced a bill that will require new multi-unit residential construction to have electric vehicle charging equipment and require new townhouses and single family detached homes to be prepared with wiring and equipment for future installation of a home EV charging station.
If passed, proposed bill CB76-2018 would require at least one J-1772 Level 2 charging connector for each 25 residential units for new occupancies of multi-unit residential buildings including condominiums and co-ops.
A public hearing on CB76 is scheduled for October 15, 2018 at 7:00 PM at the Howard County Council Meeting at the George Howard Building, 3430 Court House Drive, Ellicott City, MD 21043.
Click here to contact Howard County Council Members.
The City of Beverly Hills, California changed their Electric Vehicle Charging Policy on April 2, 2018 in an effort designed to encourage more efficient use of the city’s 35 public charging stations. One of the key changes to the policy was to prohibit plug-in hybrid electric vehicles from charging.
The policy had been developed by the Beverly Hills Traffic & Parking Commission and approved by the City Council and implemented EV charging fees, defined signage to reserve charging spots exclusively for battery-only electric vehicles and implemented a new enforcement regulation to fine and/or tow all other vehicles including plug-in hybrids, gas-only vehicles and any BEV not actively charging.
Bill SB 1000, authored by California State Senator Ricardo Lara, passed the legislature and was signed by Gov. Brown last week. The bill contained a provision that prohibited local municipalities from restricting access to public EV charging stations that are funded using state or ratepayer money.
65850.9. (a) A city, county, or city and county shall not restrict which types of electric vehicles, including, but not limited to, plug-in hybrid vehicles, may access an electric vehicle charging station approved for passenger vehicles that both is publicly accessible and the construction of which was funded, at least in part, by the state or through moneys collected from ratepayers.
The $7,500 federal EV tax credit will soon begin to wind down for manufacturers such as Tesla and GM when they reach the point of delivering 200,000 electric vehicles in the US.
Under the current law, the full $7,500 tax credit will be available for a particular manufacturer’s cars through the end of the quarter in which the 200k EVs milestone is reached and also through the following quarter. Then, all the plug-in vehicles sold by that manufacturer will be eligible for 50% of the vehicle credit for two more quarters. The credit then goes down to 25% for two quarters and then it completely goes away for that manufacturer’s vehicles.
Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) has introduced a bill to eliminate the per manufacturer cap and make the credit available to an unlimited number of EV buyers for the next ten years.
H.R.6274 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend certain tax credits related to electric cars, and for other purposes, is co-sponsored by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Rep. Jacky Rosen (D-NV). The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. A Senate version of the bill is expected to be filed by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR). Read More …
The City of Beverly Hills, California has updated their Electric Vehicle Charging Policy which they say will encourage more efficient use of the City’s 35 public EV charging stations.
The new policy takes effect on April 2, 2018 and is said to help prepare for increasing demand for the City’s EV charging infrastructure and to encourage more efficient use of the 35 publicly available EV charging stations at City facilities. The 35 stations at 15 locations include a total of 59 Level 2 connectors.
Beverly Hills’ EV charging stations are reserved exclusively for battery-only electric vehicles that are connected and actively charging under the new policy. All other vehicles including plug-in hybrids, gas-only vehicles and any BEV not actively charging may be penalized by a fine and/or towed at the owner’s expense.
Read More …
We’ll need many gallons of green paint and hundreds of new signs to make electric vehicle charging stations enforceable in Maryland under the latest proposal for a state-wide anti-ICEing law. Are EV charging station site hosts, local and state governments and the EV community up to the task?
Eight states have enacted anti-ICEing laws. They all require that the charging spots be designated in some manner in order to be enforceable. One state, Washington, requires “green pavement markings” in addition to signs to enforce their $124 penalty for violators.
A bill proposed in the 2018 session of the Maryland General Assembly will also require green pavement markings in order to be enforced. HB 598, sponsored by Delegate Clarence Lam, is the sixth attempt at anti-ICEing legislation in Annapolis.
I have participated in efforts to get a statewide anti-ICEing law in Maryland since 2012 when Delegate Eric Luedtke introduced HB 108. In addition to many phone calls, meetings and letters, I have traveled to Annapolis on at least three occasions to testify in support of legislation as chronicled here in 2016 and here for 2017. What will it take to be successful this time?
Read More …