EV charging from a driver's perspective.
Tesla is building a V3 Supercharger at Idylwood Plaza at 7501 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA. It is located on Route 7 just inside the Beltway close to I-66. Map link.
Idylwood Plaza has a Whole Foods, Starbucks, Jason’s Deli, Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken, Burger 7, Noodles & Company, and Tara Thai.
Falls Church, VA is among a number of Tesla Superchargers that are under construction in the Washington, DC area in the spring of 2020.
This week, the Maryland Zero Emission Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Council (ZEEVIC) released their 2019 Annual Report that was due last December.
Under the Maryland Clean Cars Act, the body is required to submit an annual report of the Council’s work and recommendations to the Governor and General Assembly by December 1st. This would give the Governor and legislature a month to study the information and prepare important EV related bills for the lawmaking session which begins each January.
The Council was created by legislation introduced by Governor O’Malley in 2011 to coordinate integration of electric vehicles into Maryland communities and transportation system. It was originally called the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Council (EVIC). EVIC included representatives of automobile manufacturers, dealers, charging equipment manufacturers, utility companies, electrical workers, state and local governments, energy and environmental experts.
In 2019, legislation sponsored by Governor Hogan added representatives of the hydrogen fuel industry and the name was changed to the Zero Emission Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Council (ZEEVIC). The 2019 ZEEVIC Report cover features a photo of Gov. Hogan and administration officials at a demo of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in front of the state capitol in Annapolis.
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A BGE EVsmart public charging site is coming to the Glenwood Branch of the Howard County Library System and Gary J. Arthur Community Center. The utility owned and operated charging stations are installed, but not yet operational as of May 20, 2020. UPDATE: Chargers operational as of June 25, 2020 There are two DC Fast Chargers and six Level 2 ports in the north east corner of the main parking lot. [map link]
The two 50 kW fast chargers are liquid-cooled Tritium Veefil TRI93-50-01-US models. This is a departure from the Efacec QC45 quick chargers used in earlier BGE installations such as Westminster and Ellicott City. Having multiple fast chargers at the Glenwood site should help bolster EV drivers’ confidence because they will know that if one fast charger is occupied or inoperable, they have an alternative fast charger to try.
The BGE fast chargers have a fee of $0.34 per kWh. The Level 2 charging costs $0.18 per kWh. Those fees are subject to change with the approval of the Maryland Public Service Commission which regulates the utilities. Payment is via a Greenlots account.
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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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Tesla has been busy adding more Superchargers around the greater Washington, DC area. Last month, the first Supercharger inside the District of Columbia opened in the garage of a Safeway store on Wisconsin Ave, NW. A second Tesla Supercharger in the District is currently under construction in the Fort Lincoln area of NW. Tesla apparently still has crews working at Supercharger construction sites where proper personal distancing can be practiced.
Listed below are the sites that have begun construction the Washington, DC area including the western suburbs in Virginia and Maryland’s Eastern Shore. UPDATE, May 28, 2020: added White Marsh, MD & Falls Church, VA. July 16, 2020: Chantilly and Vienna are open.
The leaders of the Maryland General Assembly announced today that the 2020 session will adjourn on Wednesday March 18th due to the coronavirus outbreak. The 90-day session was scheduled to run through April 6th. This will be the first time since the Civil War that the Maryland lawmaking session has closed early.
With the abbreviated session and the lawmakers focusing on emergency legislation related to the COVID-19 crisis and getting the budget passed, legislation related to electric vehicle issues will be strained. The House and Senate were in session over the weekend and two bills that we are tracking made some movement.
Columbia Association installed a Level 2 charging station at The Hawthorn Center in Hickory Ridge. The SemaConnect ChargePro station is located by the pool entrance near the south west side of the building. The Hawthorn Center is at 6175 Sunny Spring, Columbia, MD 21044. MAP
This is the seventh site and ninth charging port 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) and The Other Barn in Oakland Mills.
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Howard County, Maryland passed one of the earliest anti-ICEing laws in July, 2014. The ordinance is designed to keep Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) cars from blocking electric vehicle charging stations. In the five years since it was enacted, only three citations have been given according to the Howard County Police Department. One ticket each in the years 2014, 2017 and 2019.
Many anti-ICEing laws require an official sign to be posted in order to be enforced on private or public property. In Howard County, the sign must be at least 12 inches by 18 inches and meet government standards.
A sign that designates a space under this subsection must meet be at least 12 inches by 18 inches and meet any applicable State or Federal standards for parking control signs.
Howard Co. MD Sec. 21.207c3 Parking restrictions – Plug-in vehicle recharging stations
The Howard County Police Department created a Training Bulletin to provide guidance to officers when responding to calls of non-electric vehicles parked in EV charging spaces.
Some of the key points listed in the bulletin are:
Read More …A bill in the Maryland General Assembly proposes a larger annual vehicle registration fee for electric vehicles. The proposal would actually double the annual fee on all classes of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) in Maryland.
HB1626, sponsored by Delegate C. T. Wilson of Charles County, is named the Increasing Highway Equity Act. The synopsis of the bill is “Doubling the annual registration fees for motor vehicles of any class that are zero-emission vehicles.”
Maryland has committed to 60,000 zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2020 and 300,000 ZEVs by 2025 as part of the California Clean Cars Program that Maryland adopted in 2007. The state has been struggling to reach that goal. According to data from the MVA, as of January there are 24,615 plug-in electric vehicles registered in Maryland.
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A Tesla Supercharger is planned for a Sheetz store in Dahlgren, VA.
According to a King George County Building Official contacted by Mark Czajka of MD Volt, Inc., a permit application was submitted yesterday for the Sheetz at 17188 Owens Drive. This location is about 2 miles west of the Harry W. Nice Bridge over the Potomac. Link to Map
This Supercharger will be convenient for Tesla drivers that travel Route 301 through Charles County Maryland and into Virginia.
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