EV Charging on the National Mall in Washington, DC

The National Park Service has installed two curbside electric vehicle charging stations on the National Mall in Washington, DC. One is on Madison Drive by the Air and Space Museum, the other is on Jefferson Drive near the National Museum of American History. NPS received a grant from the Department of Energy Clean Cities program to install the stations. Each of the two charging stations serve one vehicle and are available to the public.

The parking spots adjacent to the charging stations are marked with signs stating, “[no parking] except for electric vehicles charging.” The signs were being observed and respected by ICE vehicles on a recent visit to both spots on a weekend. There are no parking meters on those sections of street so parking is free. There is a three hour limit and other restrictions for other spaces along the streets. Not sure if the same restrictions apply to the charging space itself.

The cost to use the charging stations is $2.00 per hour, selected in advance in 15 minute increments. The fee is paid via a credit card reader on the side of the unit which is manufactured by EVSE LLC, a subsidiary of Control Module, Inc.

The criteria NPS used for selecting the EV charging sites included: demand, visibility, public accessibility, and distance from other electric vehicle charging stations in the area. Other factors that they considered were the distance from electrical sources and the desire to create minimal disturbance. Based on these criteria, NPS selected curbside locations next to existing light fixtures in order to keep trenching and disturbance of the area to a minimum.

The units are Watt Point Charging Station Model 3704 which seem to be the same equipment recently installed at eight curbside charging locations in Burbank, California. They have a retractable cable similar to the GE WattStations that are at Alamo Drafthouse in Ashburn, VA and on Lexington Street in Baltimore.