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Illinois EV Parking Bill Passes – ICEing: $75 Fine, Tow

July 23, 2015February 21, 2019 Lanny

“Anti-ICEing” Bill Sent to Illinois Governor to Sign
Few states have laws against “ICEing” an electric vehicle charging spot. Thanks to a call from an angry EV driver to his state representative, Illinois may soon fine and tow those who block charging stations with vehicles that can’t use them. The Illinois General Assembly has just passed HB-0198 which:

Prohibits the parking of non-electric vehicles in charging station spaces designated for electric vehicles. Allows any person or local authority owning or operating a parking facility to remove or cause to be removed any non-electric vehicle parked within a charging station space designated for use by an electric vehicle. Imposes a minimum fine of $75 on a person parking a non-electric vehicle in a space designated for electric vehicles. Requires municipalities to display signs indicating the fine imposed for a violation.

Illinois State Rep. Robyn Gabel told Chicago Channel 7 News reporter Roz Varon, “A constituent called our office and was very upset. He said he went to park his electric vehicle in Northbrook in a parking lot where they had a charging station and there were non-electric vehicles parked in the spot. We did some research and we found that, in reality, no, most places do not have a fine for parking non-electric vehicles in electric parking spots. So we developed some legislation and passed it, both in the House and the Senate and it is now on the governor’s desk.”

$75-$100 Fine + Towing. Will Apply on Private Property

BWMI-05 If the governor signs the bill, it means that after January 1, 2016, any non-electric vehicle that is blocking a designated charging station can be towed and the owner fined $75 to $100. The penalty will apply on private parking areas open to the public and the charging spot need only be designated so that, “…a reasonable person would be made aware by the sign or notice on or near the parking space that the space is reserved for electric vehicles.” Full text of HB0198. [PDF]

Important to Encourage Electric Cars
Rep. Gabel explained, “It’s important to encourage people to reduce their carbon footprint. If people have electric cars, we want to encourage them to have electric cars and be able to recharge their car wherever they need to recharge it.”

One Person Can Make a Difference
An important part of this story, not to be overlooked, is that a single citizen got the ball rolling with one well-placed phone call. A single person CAN make a difference. Next time you are ICEd, don’t just get angry, call your elected representatives and ask for legislation.

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Federal Highway Bill Extends User Fee to Electric Vehicles

July 22, 2015 Lanny

roadinPA1
It was bound to happen sooner or later. The government, realizing less revenue from taxing gasoline by the gallon because vehicles are more fuel-efficient, or don’t use gas at all, is looking for alternative ways to collect money to pay for transportation infrastructure.

Several states including Oregon have considered taxing vehicles by the mile. Now, the United States Senate has proposed a use fee that specifically includes electric vehicles as part of a transportation bill that Congress is trying to pass before July 31, when current funding of the Highway Trust Fund runs out.

The U.S. Senate’s long-term transportation bill called the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy (DRIVE) Act is proposed to help fund and modernize the nation’s infrastructure and transportation systems.

Ensures All Users of the Roads Pay Their Fair Share

The DRIVE Act, H.R. 22, includes user-based alternative revenue mechanisms that keep a user fee structure designed to support the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund.
The following line is in the summary from the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee:

Extends new user fee to electric vehicles: The DRIVE Act ensures all users of the roads and bridges pay their fair share with a new federal share program initializing new state controlled user fees.

The Senate bill retains a provision for national electric vehicle charging corridors and deployment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in those corridors by the end of fiscal year 2021. There is apparently no provision to address workplace charging at Federal facilities as was once considered by the previous Congress via the EV-COMUTE Act.

The Senate may vote on the 1,030-page DRIVE Act as early as this weekend according to the Senate Majority Leader.

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EV Charging Added to Eight Maryland MTA Rail Stations

July 17, 2015 Lanny

PEV@MTA Map 2015 — Click map to get details of 2015 PEV@MTA charging locations.

Part of Maryland Energy Administration PEV@MTA Program

The State of Maryland has flipped the switch on 16 EV charging station ports at 8 commuter rail stations this week. The dual-port Level 2 ChargePoint stations are located at Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) Light Rail and MARC Station parking lots. These plug-in electric vehicle charging sites are part of the PEV@MTA program which is funded by a $1,000,000 grant administered by the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA).

cromwellMTA1 — EV Charging at the Cromwell Light Rail Station

Free for Daily Commuters to Use

As of July, 2015, all of the Maryland MTA charging stations are free to use except for the ones at the BWI Rail Station which are free for the first 16 hours and then $2.00 per hour thereafter up to a maximum of $50.00.

The MTA has previously installed electric vehicle charging stations at 6 locations including the White Marsh Park and Ride (March 2011), the BWI-Marshall MARC Parking Garage (June 2011), the Mt. Washington and Falls Road Light Rail Stations (June 2012), and the Dorsey and Odenton MARC Stations (July 2012).

PEV@MTA Charging Stations Installed July, 2015:

Milford Mill Metro Station Roman Frasier Ln, Pikesville, MD 21208
Lutherville Light Rail Station 157 W Ridgely Rd, Lutherville-Timonium, MD 21093
North Linthicum Light Rail Station 450 North Camp Meade Road, Linthicum Heights, MD 21090
Cromwell Light Rail Station 7378 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd, Glen Burnie, MD 21061
West Baltimore MARC Station 400 North Smallwood Street, Baltimore, MD 21223
Halethorpe MARC Station 5833 Southwestern Boulevard, Halethorpe, MD 21227
Muirkirk MARC Station 7012-B Muirkirk Road, Beltsville, MD 20705
Monocacy MARC Station 7800 Genstar Drive, Frederick, MD 21703

More Locations to be Added in 2016

MTA is conducting a feasibility study for an additional 8 to 12 EV charging ports to be installed at 4 to 6 new locations that are scheduled to be installed by spring 2016.

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16 Hour Limit Imposed at BWI Rail Station

July 11, 2015October 25, 2022 Lanny

A $50.00* charging session? Steep penalty at BWI Amtrak garage.

(*Note: ChargePoint App says $50.00 maximum.) Post updated July 14, 2015.

If you are planning to plug in your electric vehicle at the BWI Rail Station to go away for a few days on Amtrak, read the fine print on the signs because you may be hit with a huge ChargePoint bill to use the “free” charging stations there.

Apparently, in an effort to discourage drivers from plugging in and leaving on overnight trips, the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) has limited the parking at the EV charging stations at the BWI MARC/Amtrak Rail Station to no more than 16 hours. Vehicles that are still plugged in after 16 hours will be billed $2.00 per hour via ChargePoint according to a small sign above each EV charging spot.

On Saturday July 11, 2015 around 11:00 AM, there was a Chevy Volt parked in one of the EV charging spots. The crawling display on the ChargePoint station indicated that it had been plugged in for about 53 1/2 hours or since 5:30 Thursday morning. The driver of the car had accumulated over 37 hours past the 16 hour limit and had ostensibly racked up $74.00 in fees. Mercifully for the Volt owner, there is a maximum of $50.00 according to the ChargePoint App.

One could argue that the fee charged after the 16 hour parking restriction shown on the sign is essentially an automated parking fine collection. But who sets the amount of the fine? Is it a county or state legislative body? Or is it some bureaucrat with access to the ChargePoint account at the Maryland Transit Administration who has the ability to program the fees?

Now maybe the Volt driver should have paid attention to the sign that read: 16 HR PARKING ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING ONLY. But if an ICE car had parked there instead, what would have been their penalty? Likely less than the $50.00 that the Volt driver was charged.

To put it in perspective, Howard County, Maryland passed a law against “ICEing” an EV charging spot. In response to a Public Information Act request from PlugInSites, the County revealed that only one citation had ever been issued and that fine was for $35.00. In other words, this charging station user, paid more money in penalties than all the fines ever collected in Howard County for ICE cars blocking charging stations.

Some have said, why not expand to have 120v outlets for long-term travelers. The fact is, that each of the charging stations here has two available ports, an L1 and an L2. Unfortunately, the stations were installed in front of five adjacent spots which only leaves room for five or maybe six cars able to access the ten ports. Some EV drivers have gone to this garage recently expecting to plug in while taking a multi-day trip on Amtrak and when confronted by the new 16 hour limit, parked in a regular parking space instead of plugging in. How is the Amtrak rail station different from charging at the Airport parking garage for a few days? MTA needs to rethink this policy and/or add more charging ports to meet the demand.

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Tesla CHAdeMO Adapter at MOM’s in Frederick

July 8, 2015 Lanny

moms frederick chademo

MOM’s Organic Market in Frederick, Maryland is now lending out a Tesla CHAdeMO adapter so that Model S drivers can use the DC Fast Charger at their store. The idea to offer the adapter came from the founder of MOM’s, Scott Nash, who has been a great supporter of EV charging and drives an electric car.

To charge a Model S at the Frederick store, just ask for the adapter at the customer service desk inside the front door. I tested it out for a few minutes to see how it operated and everything worked fine. I plugged the adapter into the vehicle first, then attached the charger’s CHAdeMO connector to the adapter. Then I pressed the green start button on the charger cabinet. The screen displayed that it was in testing mode for a few seconds, then the green light on the vehicle’s charging port illuminated showing that it was charging. The 25 kW unit charged at a rate of 66 mi/hr.

moms frederick chademo screen

MOM’s Organic Market has free EV charging stations at almost all of their stores. MOM’s says that the Woodbridge store, scheduled to open in August, 2015, will have four Level 2 stations and one DC Fast Charger. If you still drive a fossil fuel car, they will Terrapass your gas and buy carbon credits to offset the carbon dioxide emitted from your round trip to their store. But with so many plug in sites such as these, why not drive electric?

Ref: Tesla CHAdeMO Adapter Manual (PDF)

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12 Charging Ports Coming to Tanger Outlets in Rehoboth

July 2, 2015July 6, 2015 Lanny

Tanger Outlets Seaside Center Charging Stations — Seaside Center Charging Stations photo: Tanger Outlets

Tanger Outlets in Rehoboth Beach, DE has three centers along Route 1: Bayside, Seaside and Surfside. Each one of these now has two ChargePoint dual-port charging stations. That’s four J-1772 charging connectors at each center for a total of 12 charging ports. This is part of an initiative to bring EV charging stations to Tanger Outlets nationwide. Tanger Outlet Centers in Hershey and Lancaster, Pennsylvania already have charging stations.

The finishing touches such as signs and paint still are being applied, but power is already on at the Seaside and Surfside locations. The charging stations at the Bayside outlet center are installed but awaiting power.

Charging stations are near the Gap store in Seaside center. photo: Tanger Outlets

Two high-amp Level 2 charging stations are now open at Surfside Park in downtown Rehoboth Beach. The addition of these 12 charging ports means that Rehoboth Beach now has enough public EV charging stations to handle 14 electric vehicles at once.

Who’s going to the beach in their electric car this summer? Where will you charge?

@Lanny

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U.S. Transportation Bill Calls for National Electric Vehicle Charging Corridors

June 23, 2015 Lanny

US Capitol
The Senate has introduced its six-year highway infrastructure spending bill known as the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act, or DRIVE Act. [PDF] The bill includes a provision for national electric vehicle charging corridors and deployment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in those corridors by the end of fiscal year 2021.

The DRIVE act calls for designation of national electric vehicle charging corridors to identify the need for, and location of, electric vehicle charging infrastructure at strategic locations along major national highways to improve the mobility of electric-powered passenger and commercial vehicles.

In designating corridors, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation shall involve the heads of other Federal agencies; State and local officials; representatives of energy utilities; the electric vehicle industries; clean technology firms; the hospitality industry; the restaurant industry; and highway rest stop vendors.

The bill calls for a report that identifies electric vehicle charging infrastructure and standardization needs for electricity providers, infrastructure providers, vehicle manufacturers, electricity purchasers, and establishes a goal of achieving strategic deployment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in those corridors by the end of fiscal year 2021.

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SAE Combo Station in Maryland Now Online

June 16, 2015 Lanny

Royal Farms Store Fast Charging price: $.39 per kWh, $2.00 minimum.

The ChargePoint Network map is showing a new DC Fast Charger that supports both SAE Combo and CHAdeMO located at 6210 Allentown Rd, Camp Springs, MD. This is a new Royal Farms Store that opened on June 15, 2015 and is apparently the first location from the Maryland EVIP Fast Charger Grant to be installed. @MDVolt posted some photos.

Usage is free for the first 30 days and then $.39 per kWh, $2.00 minimum after July 15, 2015.

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Tesla Supercharger Approved for Strasburg, VA

June 10, 2015 Lanny

view larger map

Tesla Superchargers have been approved to be located at a Denny’s restaurant in Strasburg, Virginia according to Planning and Zoning Administrator Wyatt Pearson.

The restaurant location at 119 Hite Lane, off U.S. 11 is near where I-66 intersects with I-81. Strasburg is one of the five new Virginia Supercharger sites mentioned by an official at the opening of the Tesla Tysons Sales and Service Center in March.

Construction has yet to begin and so far we have no information on the timeline.

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UPDATE: Rehoboth Beach Stations Coming Online “Shortly”

June 9, 2015 Lanny

rehobothave01
June 9, 2015: The two High-Amp Level 2 stations in Rehoboth Beach that are part of the “Charging Up Delaware” program are expected to be online “shortly.” The charging station enclosures are in place. They are awaiting some electronic components and then the J-1772 cables will be attached and signs put up. It may still be a few more weeks until they are available. More info will be shared here as it develops. Subscribe below for email notifications.

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