EV chargers set to spark across B'more
If you're an electric-car owner, it can be a bit daunting to find a public place to plug in and recharge in Baltimore right now. That's due to change soon, though.
The Maryland Energy Administration is working with the city and Baltimore Electric Vehicle Initiative to install 65 stations across the Baltimore-Washington area this spring, the first of which already has gone in at the Community College of Baltimore County in Catonsville. SemaConnect of Annapolis, meanwhile, was first out of the gate, placing a few of its stations in parking lots and garages around the area. It hopes to have 50 out there soon.
Now Coulomb Technologies of California has announced it'll be placing charging stations in Baltimore, too, as part of a $37 million expansion of its ChargePoint America program. The company's Scott Miller emailed me that it expects to install 50 to 100 in the metro area, though timing is still to be determined.
In addition, there'll soon be a new tax break for EV owners and others to help with the cost of installing a charging station at home or elsewhere. The General Assembly approved an O'Malley administration bill, HB163, to provide a credit covering up to 20 percent of the cost of EV charging equipment.
All that apparently has been enough for Ford Motor Co. to put Baltimore on its list of the 25 most EV-ready cities in the country.
So we'll have to see if the spreading network of charging stations will spark sales of electric cars, as the lack of such infrastructure has been cited as a drag on their consumer appeal. And maybe higher gas prices won't hurt, either.
(Mahi Reddy of SemaConnect recharges at station in Fitzgerald apartments parking garage in Mount Vernon. Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor)
Comments
How about information on the projected cost to the consumer for using these charging stations?
Posted by: John20723 | April 15, 2011 11:40 AM
It's amusing to see electric vehicles cited as such an environmental advancement. Since all of these vehicles will be powered from an aging electrical innfrastructure and the cost of adding generation and distribution capcity to the grid will be spread among all users of electricity, I see EVs as a way to get those who don't own vehicles to end up subsidizing car owners. At least with internal combustion engines, the auto users pay for the cost of the fuel they use.
By the way, the only feasible generation method for that much additional drag on the power grid will be either nuclear or coal... Goveror O'Malley's wind farms just won't generate that much power on a consistent basis.
Posted by: Jim Noonan | April 16, 2011 2:13 PM
Right Jim, and no one ever addresses the environmental damage and large amount of energy used when the metal needed for the batteries is mined, smelted and eventually recycled or discarded. EVs might save some gas but do not save any energy. Much like ethanol, the EV is a misguided "solution" to a poorly defined problem.
Posted by: John20723 | April 16, 2011 6:17 PM
We have brown outs now when everyone comes home at 5 and cranks up the AC. What happens when everyone comes home at 5 to plug in there "green car" for the next 8 hours. Gosh forbid you have to go anyplace after work, Your EV wont be ready. Pie in the sky!
Posted by: gueman | April 17, 2011 7:41 AM