Tesla Gallery in Westfield Mall, Bethesda, Maryland
Here’s an update on House Bill (HB) 235 which would allow certain electric vehicle manufacturers including Tesla to sell cars direct to customers in Maryland. The bill received a favorable report by the House Environment and Transportation Committee after amendments advocated by GM were added. The second reading with amendments passed the full House on March 19, 2015. UPDATE: The third reading passed in the House, 137-0, on March 20, 2015.
The Maryland Automobile Dealers Association testified that they supported the bill. However, GM opposed it, as originally filed, and insisted on amendments to limit Tesla and any other manufacturer falling under the statute to only be licensed to operate at two locations.
GM seems to have been successful in their lobbying to get those amendments. The amendments allow two sales locations in Maryland. One of those two licenses can only be issued in Montgomery County. This would, in effect, grandfather the current Tesla location at Montgomery Mall and allow only one more sales location in the entire state.
The process starts all over again in the Senate. First stop will be in the Judicial Proceedings Committee. That bill has not been filed as of March 20.
Subscribe below to get updates via email as they develop.
Click map to get details and charger location addresses of planned EVIP CHAdeMO/SAE Combo locations.
Planned locations of the Maryland Energy Administration’s Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program (EVIP) Fast Charger network have been announced. Grants were awarded to Royal Farms (15 stations), NRG eVgo (4 stations) and ChargePoint (2 stations).
The EVIP grant program, announced on April 24, 2014, provides up to $1,000,000 in matching funds for a public/private partnership to install a DC Fast Charging network throughout the State of Maryland. The three grantees will build 26 DC Fast Charging stations at 21 sites from Ocean City in the eastern side of the state to Hagerstown in the west. The DC Fast Charging sites will have both CHAdeMO and SAE Combo connector standards (either as a dual connector station or as two separate units).
In this video recorded by @andrewket at the Tesla Tysons sales and service opening ceremony, one of the Virginia officials said that five new Supercharger locations were coming to Virginia.
Currently there are three Supercharger stations in Virginia: Glen Allen, Woodbridge and South Hill. The new locations said to be coming in the next year are in Charlottesville, Norfolk, Strasburg, Lexington and Wytheville.
Spring flowers will soon be sprouting in Virginia. This year, DC Fast Chargers are sprouting up too. Central and Southern Virginia went from having just a few CHAdeMO and zero SAE Combo DC Fast Chargers in January, to having five dual-port stations with one of each connector installed in February. These are part of the Virginia Clean Cites program that partnered with Mac’s Service Center in Ashland and was recently approved for Staunton, VA.
By March 31, there should be 10 more dual-port DC Fast Chargers installed under this program for a total of 15 new CHAdeMO/SAE Combo stations. I spoke with Alleyn Harned, Executive Director of Virginia Clean Cities and he said many more are in the works. Stay tuned! (note: as of 3/13/15, the SAE Combo connectors have not yet been commissioned in all these stations)
Va. Clean Cities/Greenlots DC Fast Chargers Installed February, 2015:
Va. Clean Cities/Greenlots DC Fast Chargers Installed February, 2015
Va. Clean Cities/Greenlots DC Fast Chargers Coming by March 31, 2015:
Va. Clean Cities/Greenlots DC Fast Chargers Planned for March, 2015
UPDATE: Approved by City Council. Slated to be installed by end of March, 2015.
A DC Quick Charger is being proposed at the corner of Johnson and New Streets in downtown Staunton, VA. MAP
According to Tom Sliwoski, the city’s public works director, the city hopes the charging station will attract electric vehicle drivers to visit the downtown area.
A public hearing before the city council will be held on March 12th to consider authorizing the City Manager to enter into an agreement with a private company to install and operate a charging station and reserve two parking spaces for public use.
Here is an update on the current bills before the Maryland General Assembly that affect electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. Senate Bill (SB) 682 to authorize a reciprocity agreement with Virginia for electric vehicles to use HOV lanes received an unfavorable report in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and is likely dead this session. There was no similar bill in Virginia for the proposed reciprocity agreement anyway.
Today, March 10th, there is a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee on SB 714 to extend the tenure of the Maryland Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Council (EVIC) from 2015 until 2020. The Maryland EVIC was established in 2011 to develop a plan to expand the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles and charging infrastructure in the state. They also recommend legislation such as the next bill to report.
SB 762 which would lift restrictions at condos and HOAs and require landlords to approve a tenant’s request to install electric vehicle recharging equipment will have a hearing before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on March 19, 2015 at 1:00 PM. This bill is based on California Assembly Bill (AB) 2565 which gives multi-unit dwelling tenants the right to install a charging station at their residence as long as the tenant pays for the costs of installation, maintenance, electricity and subsequent removal upon moving. A substantial number of potential plug-in vehicle drivers live in rentals, condos or property governed by a homeowners association and this is a consequential issue for many.
There are several ways you can express your opinion to Maryland lawmakers on SB 762.
UPDATE: I’ve been told that there will be no verbal testimony from the public and that written testimony must be delivered to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee office before noon on March 19. See the Witness Guidelines and Committee FAQ’s for details. 1. Write to the members of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. Find a list of the committee members and their contact info here. 2. Go to Annapolis on March 19th to give your testimony in person. See these witness guidelines for the committee.
Finally, I called Delegate Reznik’s office to get an update on House Bill (HB) 235 which would allow certain electric vehicle manufacturers such as Tesla to sell cars direct to customers in Maryland. The bill is currently held up in subcommittee. An agreement has been worked out with the Maryland Automobile Dealers Association and they support the bill. However, GM is opposing it and some amendments are expected. They don’t know yet what those amendments will do to the bill. The subcommittee meets every Thursday and I will continue to monitor the progress of this and all EV and charging related bills in Annapolis and report here.
Subscribe to Plug In Sites below to get updates via email as they develop.
UPDATE: June 8, 2015, Maryland State Highway Administration responded that they are aware of the situation and that efforts have been made to get the situation resolved.
photo by @verastamps
The J-1772 connectors and cables on the two SemaConnect charging stations at the Belcamp Park and Ride lot are missing. The charging cables apparently were severed and taken sometime in the month of December. I had called SemaConnect a few months ago to ask about the status of these stations and was told that they were scheduled to be moved at some point in the future but they had no information as to where they might be moving to.
photo by @verastamps
It is unfortunate that these Level 2 charging stations are no longer in service. I have used them on a number of long trips over the years including the Pennsylvania Amish Country EV Road Trip last September.
I had heard that Maryland Department of General Services (DGS) had received a grant from the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) for a pilot program of 10 Level 1 EV charging stations in the Calvert Street Garage in Annapolis. The garage, at 19 St. Johns St., is very close to the House of Delegates office building where I testified last week. So, when I was headed back to my car, I decided to take a shortcut through the garage (which is reserved for state employees during business hours) to see if I could spot them.
Sure enough, on the bottom floor, on the wall on the right as you would enter by car, were ten 120v outlets positioned at chest level, one in front of each parking spot for an entire row of spaces. Each outlet box was labeled with a strip of white tape, “CAR CHARGER,” followed by numbers 1 through 10. The outlet boxes were supplied by wiring in brand new metal conduit. Each box had a pair of 20 Amp GFCI sockets under a hinged plastic cover.
There were no signs up yet identifying the EV charging spots but I expect they may be placed soon. The garage already houses one of the first public charging stations in the state. It is a dual port L1/L2 ChargePoint station and I saw that two cars were using it when I walked by on Thursday. There are 720 parking spaces in the entire garage with 12 spots, or almost 2% of the spaces, dedicated to plug-in vehicle charging.
When the 120v EV charging outlets were first proposed, DGS had three concerns, liability for possible damage to cars, the garage was already at full capacity and nobody was asking for more charging stations. Evidently, those objections were overcome and it will be interesting to follow how successful the pilot program will become. The garage is open to the public on weekdays after 6:00 PM and all day Saturday and Sunday.
Model S driver Jeff Cadman arrives in Annapolis to support bill to allow Tesla to sell electric cars in Maryland.
Yesterday, I joined Bob Erdman and Jeff Cadman in Annapolis to show support for Maryland House Bill 235. This bill, introduced by Delegate Kirill Reznik of Montgomery County, would allow Tesla and other qualifying Electric Vehicle manufacturers to sell cars directly to consumers. Currently, Tesla is limited by state law from any sales activity including discussing price with potential buyers.
Jeff and Bob both own a Tesla Model S. In his letter to the committee, Jeff noted that when visitors to the Tesla Gallery in Montgomery Mall ask for pricing and ordering information, the employees have to refer them to the Tesla website. “The situation is both confusing for the customers and frustrating for the employees.”
Bob told the committee that he had to go to Washington, DC to discuss price and order his car. He explained why he thought it is important to allow manufacturers of electric vehicles such as Tesla to directly represent and sell the cars they make. “It takes an extra effort to educate the potential buyer of this new technology.” See his testimony at 25:55 into the video.
Jen Brock-Cancellieri, Deputy Director, Maryland League of Conservation Voters also testified in support of the bill. She said, “This bill will encourage the sale of more electric vehicles in Maryland.” She added that the current law is bad news for the state because it is limiting the electric vehicle market.
The Maryland Automobile Dealers Association, unlike the dealers associations in some other states, has been cooperative. They have worked together with the bill’s sponsor to agree to allow a limited number of Tesla dealerships in the state. Delegate Reznik proposes allowing Tesla to have up to six locations in Maryland. The President of the Maryland Dealers Association testified in support of the bill with amendments.
The only ones to appear in opposition to the bill were two attorneys representing General Motors. GM wants the bill to limit Tesla to the two facilities that they currently have in Maryland, the Gallery in Montgomery Mall and the Service Center in Rockville. You can watch the testimony from GM starting at 36:30 on the video.
This bill still has a long way to go. Next, it will be sent to a subcommittee and then back to the Environment and Transportation Committee to vote. If you’d like to speak up, it’s not too late. The members of the House Environment and Transportation Committee are listed here.
Subscribe below to get updates via email as they develop.
Maryland HB235 would authorize a manufacturer to be licensed as a vehicle dealer if that manufacturer deals only in electric or non fossil-fuel burning vehicles and if no dealer in the State holds a franchise.
There will be a hearing on HB235 in the House Environment and Transportation Committee at 1:00 on February 19, 2015. Here is the schedule.
There are several ways you can express your opinion to Maryland lawmakers on HB 235.
1. Write to the members of the House Environment and Transportation Committee. Find a list of the committee members and their contact info here.
2. Go to Annapolis on Thursday afternoon to give your testimony in person. See these tips for attending a committee hearing.
Subscribe below to get updates via email as they develop.
