Plug-In Sites - EV charging from a driver's perspective.

Comments to the Federal Highway Administration on EV Charging Deployment

January 27, 2022November 30, 2022 Lanny

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) will invest approximately $7.5 billion for the deployment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the US. The Department of Transportation (DOT), in coordination with the Department of Energy (DOE), is required to develop guidance for States and localities to deploy electric vehicle charging. A Request for Information (RFI) was published under Docket No. FHWA-2021-0022 to invite public comments to inform the development of the Guidance for an Electric Vehicle Charging Program.

I submitted the following comments:

Docket No. FHWA-2021-0022
January 27, 2022

As an electric vehicle driver of nearly ten years, I appreciate this opportunity to provide comments on the Development of Guidance for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Deployment from an EV driver’s point of view. The consumer experience at public EV charging stations can have a profound effect on the success of charging infrastructure deployment.

Comments are directed at the EV Charging Program statutory considerations as indicated by their corresponding numbers below.

Statutory Consideration 1

50 miles is a reasonable distance between publicly available EV charging stations. This is especially critical for colder climates where the winter temperatures can reduce the range on battery electric vehicles.

Statutory Consideration 3

Priority should be given to EV charging infrastructure that is located at or near locations that have 24-hour amenities such as off-highway travel centers, fuel retailers, convenience stores, and local small businesses.

Columbia Gateway Crossing Workplace Charging Funded by Maryland Charge Ahead Grant Program

January 24, 2022January 24, 2022 Lanny

Ten Level 2 charging stations have recently been installed in the Gateway Crossing office complex in Columbia, Maryland.

These are some of the first workplace electric vehicle charging stations to be funded by the Maryland Charge Ahead Grant Program (CAGP).

Columbia Gateway Crossing EV charging — 7175 Columbia Gateway Drive – Eight EV Charging Ports in Rear

There are four dual-port EV charging stations located in the rear of 7175 Columbia Gateway Drive. These will accommodate up to eight electric vehicles charging at the same time.

The stations at this address are already turned on and I’ve seen a Mustang Mach-E and a Tesla Model 3 there during the week. There is a credit card reader on each of the charging stations but I’m not sure if payment will be required or what the price will be.

Frederick County, Maryland Considers EV-Ready Ordinance

January 12, 2022September 28, 2022 Lanny

The following is a message from Council President MC Keegan-Ayer:

Bill 22-01 (Electric Vehicle Charging Stations) will be coming up for it’s second reading on February 15th. The Third reader and Council vote is scheduled for March 1st. This is the date that any amendments will be brought forward, if there are any.

If you’d like to make public comment on the Bill, the easiest way is to email your written comment to CouncilMembers@frederickcountymd.gov and these comments will be made part of the public record. This email will go to every Council Member, and you can email any time.
If you prefer to call in and give live comment on either date, you can call during the meeting:
855-925-2801, enter meeting code 8365
From here you can either leave a voicemail message (which will be played during the meeting) or enter a virtual queue to give live public comment.

For New Residential Construction

Frederick County Council President M.C. Keegan-Ayer has proposed an EV-Ready ordinance to ensure that new homes in the county will be able to have electric vehicle charging equipment easily installed in the future.

Frederick County has the third highest EV adoption in Maryland as measured in an August 2021 PlugInSites analysis.

The County Council of Frederick County, Maryland, finds it necessary and appropriate to amend the Frederick County Code to require electric vehicle charging infrastructure for charging electric vehicles in certain new residential structures by adding provisions to Chapter 1-6: BUILDINGS.

Fast Charger Utilization Study – Columbia / Jessup Q4-2021

January 7, 2022January 7, 2022 Lanny

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.

Charger Map

DC Area Tesla Superchargers as of January, 2022

January 4, 2022January 4, 2022 Lanny

20 Tesla Superchargers Added in the Washington, DC Area During 2021

2021 was a record year for the number of Tesla Superchargers installed in the greater Washington, DC area. Superchargers in the DMV grew by 20 sites last year. For comparison, Tesla opened 16 Supercharger sites in the same area in 2020.

The map above shows all of the Superchargers installed between 2012 and January 1, 2022 in Delaware, Maryland, Washington, DC and Northern Virginia.

Today, there are nine nearby Supercharger sites known to be under construction. Listed below are the sites that are due to open soon in the greater Washington, DC area.

Bel Air, MD 8 stalls, 250 kW at Wawa
Beltsville, MD 8 stalls, 250 kW at Wawa
Bowie, MD 8 stalls, 250 kW at Wawa
Frederick, MD – Buckeystown Road, 8 stalls, 250 kW at Sheetz
Laurel, MD – Fort Meade Road 8 stalls, 250 kW at Wawa
Salisbury, MD – Ocean Highway 8 stalls, 250 kW at Wawa
Seaford, DE 8 stalls, 250 kW at Wawa
Urbana, MD 8 stalls, 250 kW at Royal Farms
Woodbridge, VA – PTC 8 stalls, 250 kW at Potomac Town Center

Electric Vehicle Legislation, 2022

January 3, 2022March 13, 2022 Lanny

PlugInSites is tracking Electric Vehicle legislation in MD, VA and certain EV related bills in other states.

Broken Chargers, Broken Promises

December 16, 2021November 30, 2022 Lanny

How long should a public EV charging station be down? Should broken chargers be fixed within 24 hours? 48 hours? A week? What if the local power company owns the charging station, what then would be your expectation?

Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE) convinced the Maryland Public Service Commission to allow them to enter the electric vehicle charging market. One of the assurances they made was that they could provide reliable service. They were quoted about EV charging reliability in the Baltimore Sun…

“BGE is being held to the same reliability standards as our electric distribution system, so they must be operational at all times. … Customers will have the sense of ease that they can go to a BGE charger and that it will be working and operational.”
Baltimore Sun/Carroll County Times June 14, 2019

3 Weeks in September

Essex EV Charging Stations Broken Chargers — BGE owned & operated chargers in Essex, Maryland

In early September 2021, an EV driver posted a Tweet that both fast chargers at Kenhill Center in Bowie, MD were faulted and asked Greenlots and BGE how long it would take to get them repaired.

I added to the thread that both fast chargers in Essex, MD were also reporting as inoperable due to a fault condition. BGE responded via Twitter that they were aware of the outages at both locations. They explained that all four units appeared to be experiencing an internal capacitor issue. They said they were working with the chargers’ manufacturer, Tritium, to replace the failed components.

Pete Buttigieg and Jennifer Granholm Make Announcement from Maryland EV Charging Station

December 15, 2021December 15, 2021 Lanny

Image: U.S. Department of Transportation

DOE and DOT Joint Press Conference

U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg came to Maryland to announce that they have signed a memorandum of understanding to create a Joint Office of Energy and Transportation to support deployment of a national electric vehicle charging network. The program is budgeted to spend $7.5 billion to focus on placing EV charging stations in rural, disadvantaged, and hard-to-reach locations.

Arrived in Electric Mustang Mach-E

Secretary Buttigieg and Secretary Granholm traveled to RS Automotive in Takoma Park to make the announcement. They arrived in an electric Ford Mustang Mach-E with Buttigieg behind the wheel. Secretary Granholm quipped that the Transportation Secretary is an excellent driver and that the ride over was smooth and quiet because they were in an all-electric car which is part of the Federal fleet.

Gas Station Converted to Charge Electric Vehicles

RS Automotive converted their old gas station to an electric vehicle charging station in 2019. The four DC fast chargers dispensed a combined average of about 60 kWh per day in the first half of 2021 according to data supplied by the Maryland Energy Administration. The EV chargers have reportedly displaced the equivalent of 326 gallons of gasoline during the 6-month period, which is an average of 1.8 gallons of gasoline per day.

Watch the 12/14/2021 DOE & DOT Joint Press Conference in its entirety below.

Dorsey’s Search Meeting Room – Columbia Association

November 19, 2021November 19, 2021 Lanny

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.

Frederick County Passes Very Limited “Anti-ICEing” Ordinance

November 17, 2021September 28, 2022 Lanny

Frederick County Electric Vehicles Parking Ordinance

The Frederick County Council voted 5-2 to approve legislation to prohibit non-electric vehicles from parking in reserved charging spaces on County roads and County owned property.

Not Applicable on Private Property

The ordinance will not apply at the Tesla Superchargers at FSK Mall nor will it apply at the Electrify America chargers at Walmart. The ordinance will only be enforceable at publicly available charging spaces on County owned property. Currently, there are no electric vehicle charging stations that are open to the public on Frederick County owned property.

Council Discussion

The bill had previously been amended to remove the 8,500 lb. weight limit in the definition of a plug-in electric vehicle and to change the requirement that plug-in vehicles must be connected to language that says, “A person may only stop, stand, or park a plug-in vehicle in a plug-in vehicle parking space for the purpose of charging the plug-in vehicle.”

Council Vice President Michael Blue expressed that he did not think the bill was necessary. He noted that at the two public hearings on the bill all of the people who commented were EV drivers and none of them supported the legislation. He explained that he had voted in favor of the amendments because, “I would like the bill to be as good or better than it was, and I think the amendments did help that.”

Rick Harcum, the County’s Chief Administrative Officer said, that the Administration is generally in support of the proposal because it sets the stage for how parking spaces for electric vehicles should be managed on County property in the future.

Harcum said that as of now, there are only five charging stations on County property and that they are “designated by signage for parking of County vehicles, so they are not considered public parking spaces.” He added that the County can currently manage those non-public parking spaces by having DPW put up signs.