The EV Charging Stations are Gone, but the Reserve Parking Remains…

General Discussion
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A while back, several threads ran concerning EVs and ICEing them. Lots of opinions were expressed and lots of photos were also shared.

I posted a photo of the two FREE Charging stations that my county installed at our local library to cater to EVs and they put them in the closest parking spots to the library, even closer than the Handicapped spots (granted there are no ramps next to these spots, but…).

Well, it’s was a two-year test and the county has now removed the FREE Charging Stations, but it was determined that the original Charging Station Parking Spots will remain as an incentive to go EV.

The Photo shows the Parking Cones that cover the holes where the Charging Stations were removed, but the signs remain.

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I went to the Board of Supervisors Meeting and asked about these Charging Stations and nobody had any idea of how many times they were used, how much they cost the county, but they all agreed that they were a good idea.

I asked how it was a good idea when Dominion Power (our electrical supplier) is screaming that they do not have the infrastructure to continue to support continued growth in the county. They had to shut down a coal-fired plant due to environment concerns, the Surry Power Nuclear Station went on line in '72 and it’s now 50-years old and had to have it license extended 10-years because they cannot build another, and the Wind Farm being built in the Chesapeake Bay is merely a proof of concept design rather than a solution…

But they insist it’s a “Good Thing…”

I do not disagree with the concept of EVs, I object to the “mad-dash” to go all EV like lemmings racing to the Finish Line only to find out it’s a cliff…

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I don’t like that ev spot is given better proximity than a handicapped spot.

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Saving spots is incentive for who?

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They’re close to the building to save money on the underground wiring.
Now, ironically, the wiring they did spend $ on sits unused in the ground.

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Yes. Too bad the county could not have reached a deal with one of the charging companies before removing them.

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Do you mean the county will replace the free charging stations with new paid commercial charging stations,? Or that they’ll leave the signs there, but provide no charging stations at all, thinking the signs will promote EVs?

Here in Silicon Valley many of the tech companies provide free charging stations at the office parking, just considered one of their employment benefits.

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Why? My taxes went up 12% this year. See no reason to pay for someone else’s electric bill.

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I suspect the cost of maintaining the charging stations and vandalism outweighed the benefit, do many people with electric vehicles visit the library?

I have been told that homeless people seek shelter in public libraries when the weather is too hot, too cold or raining, they don’t have electric vehicles yet.

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I think CircuitSmith has it right, it was probably a logistics decision as they only had to dig under some sidewalks to get the power there… The two spots are right adjacent to the “after-hours” drop box and now folks are sort of “advoiding” the spots, they are instead pulling in behind the spots along the sidewalk.

From the meeting, I take it that leaving the spots reserved for EV drivers will somehow inspire folks to go buy an EV so they can also park close to the library…

For the next few comments, I need to state this. The EV Charging Stations were not on the agenda and the BOS is usually not too responsive to taking these questions from the floor; but I was not being confrontational, I was merely asking questions, so they were not prepared to respond…

From the meeting, I gathered it was merely a two-year experiment to test the waters. I do not know who drove the issue in the first place, but it seems to have died a quiet death… The Charging stations were removed and there are no plans to replace them. But they think that leaving the signs up is a good thing. I guess they watch too my “Martha Stewart” TV and that’s a “Good Thing…”

First part, I do not think they even considered the cost of installing and maintaining the charging stations. As far as I know, there never was any vandalism on the Charging Stations.

As for, “do many people with electric vehicles visit the library?” Not many, as I mentioned earlier, This topic has been “Driven Over” before and I posted this previously about the usage of the parking spots…

Our county is still pretty much rural and the infrastructure is not conducive to supporting a homeless population the way a larger city might be…

Finally, I spoke to numerous folks after the meeting and a NASA Engineer volunteered that he uses their EV that his wife drives to work and gets FREE Charging from her employer to provide power to their home like a backup generator at night. You would think that a NASA Engineer, who has a working professional wife in a successful enough position that her employer provides FREE Charging Stations would not be so cheap. I wonder if the wife carries a large purse so she can stock up on Pens, Paper, and Post-its?

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Well Mr. Bing, it would bring in money from the charging system to decrease your taxes. Those charging systems charge the users for the electricity and the service. Your county could have received full costs back on the electricity and a percentage of the service fees. If they had solar panels generating excess energy, some of it might have been used for the vehicles charging during the day. They already spent the money building out the infrastructure, why not use it generate money.

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Assuming of course they made money on the deal which may be a stretch. I buy products from businesses though. I expect them to charge a profit. I pay taxes to spend the money on needed service like police, fire, snowplowing and so on. I don’t want government to go into business with my money. That is not their mission. If a service is needed, a business will provide it.

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This is funny. They put in charging stations. Then they find out first hand that’s it’s a bad idea that costs more than it saves anyone. By leaving the signs there they show that they still believe in green energy so long as someone else is paying for the increased expense. This is how it usually goes. Green is great, just make someone else cover the increased cost and inconvenience of it.

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If they’re deep cycling they might pay later via shortened battery life.

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I think the person saying he powers his home with an EV may be fibbing a little . There seems to be only 3 brands that can do that and the equipment required will cost thousands .

I don’t see any savings as the EV battery will need replacing long before they save enough on electricity to pay for the home circuit upgrades .

If I have this wrong feel free to correct me.

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Our regional library system has five branches in town now but most are only near EV chargers, the west side branch is inside the mall which has 2hr level2 charging at the nearest entrance to where the library is located inside. Better visibilty and traffic flow than some of the nearby shopping centers.

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I can’t say if the NASA Engineer is telling the truth or not concerning him using his EV to augment the electrical power in his home, but you need to consider this, the same ilk of person put an EV on the Moon before a goodly number of the readers of CarTalk were even born…

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And then they needed to push the limits, they’ve put numerous EVs on Mars. And just look at the Opportunity, that little “EV” that operated for over 14-years. How many times did that battery get Deep Cycled?.

Now we watch with wonder at the quality of the video and photos returned by another EV, the Perseverance… And they were not done yet, they put Ingenuity the Drone on Mars, just because they could…

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I have a feeling that if this person is really powering his home that will require a full recharge at work every day . Someone is bound to notice and it might be considered abuse of company equipment . Then the wife just might be out of a good employment .

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Most people I know who have EV’s do 99% of their charging at home. Rarely do they use a public charging station. With that said, the office park I work at has at least a dozen charging stations scattered around at different buildings. And they are used quite a bit. The only people I see taking advantage of them are people who don’t have access to a home charging station.

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The large mall in Salem NH has a few now. When ever I go over (which is rare), I see them being used. And well over half the time they were out of state. They are right by the food court. And this mall is right off of I-93 at Exit 1. Great place to stop and charge and get something to eat before heading up north or back home.

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More than likely, EV software prevents deep cycling from taking place. My plug-in hybrid will automatically switch from EV mode to the gas engine if the battery charge goes down to 30%. Although a “pure” EV is somewhat different, I believe that drivers of EVs get instrument panel warnings–long before they get into a very low charge situation–that they need to recharge soon.