EV Charging Stations
FREE or FOR A FEE EV Charging Station at City Hall?
I own an EV. I can tell you that the reason why our EV chargers are getting minimal use at city hall is that having EV chargers within the city is unnecessary for most current EV vehicle owners because getting around town does not require more charging. If you have a long commute to work, it can be appreciated, albeit.
We plug our Nissan Leaf into a Type II charger every third day or so. We installed the Type II charger in our garage shortly after purchasing the Nissan.
I describe this because there seems to be a misinterpretation by “non-EV folks”, that “we EV owners” are getting away with something. A Cottonwood Heights council member remarked, “I come by city hall and sometimes see a vehicle that has remained plugged into the charger ALL WEEKEND!” (Once charged, that vehicle is not sucking up an inordinate amount of electricity.)
For interpreting this as some kind of major infraction, that council member is proposing that the City remove the current free charging station with a new station that imposes fees for usage. And, that new charger is not an improvement because it is still a Type II. There is a claim that one day this new corporation’s charging system might give the City some kind of monetary kickback.
The current City Hall EV charging station is inconveniently located even farther away from the building entrance than other parking spaces. Why would EV owners now go to the hassle and expense of paying for charging their vehicle when the majority of people visiting city hall live nearby. Current EV charging station companies generally make you load their app, and even then, getting the financial exchange to work is often tedious.
I do not favor staff time and any City expenditure for the removal of the existing chargers in exchange for a “fee for usage” non-upgraded system.
SHOULD Cottonwood Heights continue to install EV Charging Stations around the city?
To prioritize Sustainability goals in 2023, several council members were attracted to the idea of the City subsidizing the building of more charging stations around Cottonwood Heights.
If the city is to consider subsidizing EV chargers, they should be in apartment complexes where apartment dwellers may not have either the garage/electrical outlet adjacent where they park (car ports) or the resources for a Type II charger, and/or place charging stations centralized in lower income neighborhoods where residents cannot afford to install their own Type II charger.
It is almost guaranteed that if current staff, council and visitors to city hall are not utilizing a free EV charging station, and for the points I just made, why would we want to continue to install more stations at this time?
To be clear, the place where EV chargers are needed in order to incentivize EV vehicle purchases and lower VMT (vehicle miles travelled) by combustion engine vehicles is:
Advance REGIONALLY located chargers along the Interstates. Unless you drive a Tesla, all the other manufacturers (like our Nissan Leaf) do not have frequently spaced and operable charging stations to travel distances such as SLC to southern Utah, California, Colorado, WY, etc.
Subsidize the building of EV chargers in apartment complexes where apartment dwellers may not have either the garage/electrical outlet adjacent where they park (car ports) or the resources for a Type II charger, and/or place charging stations centralized in lower income neighborhoods where residents cannot afford to install their own Type II charger.