EV charging from a driver's perspective.
A Tesla Supercharger is under construction at the Roscoe Diner just off Route 17 in Roscoe, New York.
The town’s Building Department confirms that a permit has been issued and a source says that construction is currently under way.
Excavation activity on the SE edge of the parking lot can be seen from the Roscoe Diner’s Webcam.
The Tesla Supercharger will be a welcome addition to the growing number of charging stations becoming available in the Sullivan County Catskills.
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A permit has been issued to build a Tesla Supercharger at Sheetz in Haymarket, Virginia.
The Sheetz is on the SE corner of Route 15 and Route 55, just off of I-66 Exit 40. Map link
The site plans submitted to Prince William County show eight Supercharger stalls along the north side of the Sheetz parking lot parallel to and across from the gas pumps.
After a lull in new Superchargers in the Washington, DC area, we are starting to see signs of life again.
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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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The Commonwealth of Virginia has released their 2018 Energy Plan [PDF] which includes recommendations for electric vehicles and advanced transportation.
The report notes that there are approximately 11,000 Plug-in Electric Vehicles registered in Virginia. This is about 0.14 percent of all passenger vehicles in the state. There are 62 public DC fast-charging locations that are concentrated in different areas of the state.
The report says that the lack of an accessible statewide DC fast-charging network is a major barrier to the growth of the EV market because it “restricts drivers’ ability to take longer trips and limits the utility and attractiveness of EVs, especially for any household without the ability to charge at home.”
Virginia was designated a beneficiary in the Volkswagen Diesel Emission Mitigation Settlement and the report shares that some funds from the settlement were used to award a contract to EVgo to create a public charging network to complement existing charging infrastructure. The priority will be to support high-speed DC fast charging located along heavily traveled corridors and metro areas across the state. Level 2 charging stations will also be installed statewide.
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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.
Tesla owners in the path of Hurricane Florence received a message on their car’s screen on Wednesday notifying them that Supercharging would be free until mid-October. Owners in the affected area with cars that were built with a 75 kWh battery pack but sold as a 60 kWh with the capacity being limited via software were notified that they would have access to the entire capacity for a time during and after the natural disaster.
Tesla had also unlocked the capacity of those batteries so that owners could more easily escape Hurricane Irma which hit Florida last year.
I’ve created a page to provide a Resource for EV Drivers Affected by Hurricane Florence.
Thanks Green Car Reports for helping to spread the word with the following article: Web site helps electric car drivers evacuate Florence, Tesla extends range
Please be safe if you are in Florence’s path.
This page was created on September 10, 2018 as Hurricane Florence threatened the East Coast and evacuations were being prepared in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Officials were saying to keep a full tank of gas as part of personal preparations for the approaching storm. This is a resource for electric vehicle drivers affected by Hurricane Florence.
You won’t need to worry about gas shortages if you drive an electric car but you should be aware that charging stations may become congested during a natural disaster, evacuation distances may exceed the range of a single charge and EV chargers may become unavailable due to power outages or flooded roads.
Please follow the advice of your local officials on preparation and evacuation.
This page will regularly be updated. Check back often for additional resources and follow @PlugInSites on Twitter. Send any tips or questions to lanny@pluginsites.org
Be safe.
A new EVgo charging station with six dual-port CCS/CHAdeMO Fast Chargers has opened in a hotel parking lot in North Silver Spring, Maryland near Route 29 and Cherry Hill Road.
This is one of only a few charging sites in the US that have more than two dual CCS/CHAdeMO DC Fast Chargers together at a single location. Six chargers together is even more rare and the few that do exist are mostly in California.
There is one other six-stall fast charging location in Maryland at Nottingham Commons in White Marsh, about 2 miles east of the White Marsh Blvd. Exit off I-95, that opened a few weeks before this one.
These 50 kW charging stations made by BTC Power, Inc., are on the EVgo network.
The North Silver Spring EVgo charging station is at the Courtyard by Marriott at 12521 Prosperity Dr., Silver Spring, MD.
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A listening session has been scheduled for the VW Settlement Mitigation Plan for August 20, 2018 from 10:00 AM to noon at the Maryland Department of the Environment, at 1800 Washington Blvd, Baltimore. Full details here.
Maryland officials released a draft mitigation plan for spending $75.7 million from a settlement reached with Volkswagen over an emissions testing “defeat devices” case that proposes to fund measures to help improve air quality including replacing older diesel engine powered equipment and installing electric vehicle charging stations.
The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) along with the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) developed the Draft Plan that must be submitted to the Trustee overseeing the mitigation funds once the 30 day public comment period is over and Maryland finalizes the Draft Plan.
The Settlement Agreement limits the amount of funds that can be used for Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) infrastructure investment to 15% of the total funds allocated to the state. Maryland intends to utilize the allowed maximum of 15% of Volkswagen Trust funds, or about $11.3 million, for the deployment of EV charging infrastructure.
The Draft Plan notes that MEA has awarded over $3.3 million toward installing 77 DC Fast Chargers at 46 locations, with matching grants that has leveraged more than $4.5 million in private funding of charging infrastructure in recent years. Read More …