EV charging from a driver's perspective.
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.
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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.
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There are 47,132 plug-in electric vehicles registered in Maryland as of April 30, 2022. That is a 1,839 increase in the number of registrations over the previous month according to data from MDOT / Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration.
The April increase in Maryland EV registrations is the most new electric vehicles added in any single month for the state.
Maryland set a goal of having 60,000 Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs) on the road by 2020 and 300,000 ZEVs on the road by 2025. These goals are part of the California Clean Cars Program that Maryland adopted in 2007. That program requires vehicle manufacturers to sell a certain number of ZEVs in the state.
There were about 5 million vehicles registered in Maryland as of June 30, 2021 according to MVA. About 794,713 are registered in Montgomery County. About 10,308 of the vehicles in the County are all-electric and 5,442 are plug-In hybrids for a total of 15,750 electric vehicles. That means nearly 2% of all the vehicles registered in Montgomery County, MD are plug-ins. 5,561 plug-in electric vehicles are registered in Anne Arundel County for 2nd place, barely edging out Howard County which has 5,338.
Baltimore and Prince George’s Counties are next in the rankings with 4,830 and 4,131 EVs respectively.
Somerset County on the eastern shore has only 26 plug-in vehicles registered. Garrett County in far western Maryland has 40 EVs.
Source: MVA Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Registration data obtained from Maryland Open Data Portal.
This is an update of the Fast Charger Utilization Study published in October, 2021. I had tracked the electricity usage at four CCS/CHAdeMO fast charging sites plus a Tesla Supercharger in the area around Columbia and Jessup, Maryland. The original sample was during the three months of July, August, and September (Q3).
The purpose was to see how much usage the electric vehicle fast chargers were getting and to gauge the relative utilization between fast chargers located in the same general area.
The chart below is an update that reflects the average daily usage of those same chargers expressed as the approximate number of kWh dispensed per charger port during the last three months of 2021 (Q4).
The five charging stations are located in the area of Columbia and Jessup, Maryland near MD Rt. 175. They are accessible from Exit 41 of Interstate 95 which is midway between Washington, DC and Baltimore.
How much usage do electric vehicle fast chargers get? How about the relative utilization between similar fast charger sites in the same geographical area? Below are the results of a Fast Charger Utilization Study conducted over the summer to get a rough idea of which fast chargers EV drivers are actually using in a particular area along the I-95 corridor between Washington, DC and Baltimore.
For the 90-day period between July 1 and September 30, 2021, I tracked the electricity usage at four DC fast charging sites in the area of Columbia and Jessup, Maryland. All four charging stations are along MD Rt. 175 and are accessible from Exit 41 of Interstate 95.
The Electrify America charging site at the Walmart in Columbia, MD opened on November 16, 2019. It has ten CCS dispensers, two have a maximum output of 350 kW and the rest are 150 kW. One dispenser has a 50 kW CHAdeMO connector paired with a 150 kW CCS. The difference between the meter readings at the beginning and the end of the 90 day period was 35,400 kWh. The daily average for the entire site was 393 kWh. This does not necessarily mean that all that went into vehicles. Some of it is used to power and cool the electronics and of course to keep that green glow going. Electrify America, Columbia is 2.7 miles and approximately 6 minutes from I-95.
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Maryland EV registrations are 37,432 as of the end of August, 2021, according to data from MDOT / Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration.
About 12,763 of those electric vehicles are registered in Montgomery County. As the most populated county in Maryland, with more than one million residents, it makes sense that Montgomery has the greatest total number of plug-in vehicles. In May, 2020, PlugInSites compared Maryland Plug-In Vehicle Adoption by County using the number of plug-in vehicles registered per 100,000 residents.
Perhaps a more useful metric is what percentage of all vehicles registered in each county is electric? The results show a wide gulf between the suburban counties in the center of the state and the more rural areas of Maryland.
There were about 5 million vehicles registered in Maryland as of June 30, 2021 according to MVA. About 794,713 are registered in Montgomery County. About 8,140 of the vehicles in the County are Battery Electric and 4,623 are Plug-In Hybrids for a total of 12,763 plug in vehicles. That means 1.61% of all vehicles registered in Montgomery County are plug-ins. Howard County has the 2nd highest percentage of plug-in vehicles at 1.52%. Montgomery and Howard are way out in front of the rest of the Maryland for percentage of EVs.
Frederick, Anne Arundel and Baltimore City are next in the rankings with between 0.76% and 0.70% of all registered vehicles being electric. Frederick, Anne Arundel and Baltimore City’s percentage of EVs is very close to the state of Maryland at large which is 0.74%.
Saint Mary’s, Harford, and Charles Counties have are around 0.38% of their vehicles being plug-ins. These counties fall around the middle of the list.
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A new Tesla Supercharger and an Electrify America site both opened in Maryland around the same time 10 months ago. This presents an interesting opportunity to compare the energy used at the two sites.
The Hanover Supercharger opened around November 11, 2019. It consists of eight stalls on the third level of the parking garage at the Hotel at Arundel Preserve. The maximum power to each stall is 72 kW. As of September 9, 2020, the meter is at 387.4 MWh.
DriveOhio, a part of the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), released an 85 page Electric Vehicle Charging Study to assess and coordinate a state-wide approach to developing EV charging infrastructure.
A key recommendation is to place EV charging stations at least every 50 miles along highway corridors throughout Ohio. Highway corridor charging would be high-powered DC Fast Chargers located within a mile of a highway.
The study identifies Fast Charging gaps along highway corridors and suggests options to fill them. Most of the charging stations are suggested to be installed at private site hosts such as larger gas stations and convenience stores. Some charging gaps could be filled by placing DC Fast Chargers at Ohio Turnpike Service Plazas or ODOT rest stops.
Level 2 charging needs that can support Ohio tourism are also identified. Destination charging stations are suggested at popular Ohio attrations such as the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Cedar Point Amusement Park. EV drivers can then recharge their vehicles using Level 2 stations while they are visiting these destinations.
According to data in the report, about 75% of the all-electric vehicles registered in Ohio are Teslas. The Model 3 accounts for 27% of all plug-in vehicles (including plug-in hybrids) registered in the state.
The report calls for collaboration among the following state agencies to implement the proposed strategy: ODOT, the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, the Department of Administrative Services, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Development Services Agency, and the Ohio Department of Public Safety.
Ohio has reason to support the expansion of EV charging infrastructure with Lordstown Motors taking over the former GM manufacturing facility to build electric pickup-trucks in the state.
The Electric Vehicle Charging Study is available on the drive.ohio.gov website.
See also: Maryland Zero Emission Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Council Releases 2019 Annual Report.
Last year the Maryland Public Service Commission approved the implementation of a five-year pilot program for utility-owned and operated public EV charging stations. Since the program began on July 1, 2019, BGE, Pepco and Potomac Edison have installed approximately 118 charging ports at 24 sites. One of the first BGE sites was installed in Westminster last December.
We are documenting the progress at this point in time with the unofficial map above. The orange pins designate the sites we know are open that have at least one fast charger. The green pins are the sites with only Level 2 connectors. Click the pins to reveal more detail.
The utilities are required to submit semi-annual progress reports to the PSC. The report that covers the first half of 2020 is due in August.
Below are photos of many of the completed utility-owned sites we’ve visited in Maryland. More charging stations are currently under construction or being planned. Stay tuned for updates.
Maryland now has over 25,000 plug-in electric vehicles registered in the state according to the latest data from the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration.
About 9,000 of those EVs are registered in Montgomery County alone. With a population of over one million residents, it makes sense that Montgomery has the greatest number of plug-in vehicles of all Maryland counties.
But how do Maryland counties stack up based on the number of electric vehicles registered in proportion to their population?
Howard County has the greatest number of plug-in vehicles per 100,000 residents at 925. Montgomery is a close second with 874.
Frederick and Anne Arundel counties are third and fourth with 521 and 454 EVs per 100,000 people respectively.
Talbot County, home of Easton and St. Michaels on the Eastern Shore, has the fifth highest per capita with 150 plug-ins registered with an estimated population of 37,181.
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