When Should Property Owners Install Electric Car Charging Stations

A year ago, I never got questions about electric charges. Today, I get several inquiries from our clients each week. When a client asks whether or not they should install a charger, I first ask, "What are you trying to accomplish?" If they say, "I want to meet demand and maybe make some money," I explain that there is no demand yet, and the only reason they should install a charger today is for the PR purposes of being a first adopter. Or perhaps the client can take advantage of the tax breaks before they expire. I go on to say, "You do not want to install more than a couple chargers, but you may want to build in the infrastructure to expand later on if it takes off."

A recent article "Charging Stations Multiply But Electric Cars Are Few" in the Wall Street Journal explains why electric chargers are multiplying much faster than the plug-in vehicles that can use them. While the federal subsidies help, some in the business community believe that the chargers will attract customers.

"Charging equipment is popping up largely because of subsidies. As part of a $5 billion federal program to subsidize development of electric vehicles and battery technology, the U.S. Energy Department over the past two years provided about $130 million for two pilot projects that help pay for chargers at homes, offices and public locations."

Although the subsidies will not last forever, the cost of chargers will fall as production rises, meaning that if you wait, you will probably not pay much more than you would today with the subsidy.

Plug-In Electric Webinar a Success

I want to thank everyone who participated in our first ever Lanier webinar. More than 20 people from a dozen cities across the U.S. took part. The topic, Plug-In Electric Vehicles, could not have been more timely with over 1,000,000 electric vehicle slated to hit the streets by 2015, which means that 2,000,000 charging station need to be installed by then.

I also want to thank our speaker Don Francis, Executive Director Clean Cities Atlanta for taking the time to join us. Here is a copy of the presentation.

Here are two other excellent resources:
Utility Industry National Plug In Vehicle Initiative - GOElectricdrive
USDOE Alternative Fuel Data Cetner - Alt Fuels & Advanced Vehicle Data Cetner
If you have a topic you would like to see addressed in our next webinar, please let us know.

Plug-In Electric Vehicles Webinar 4/27

Lanier Parking Solutions will hold our first ever Webinar on "Plug-In Electric Vehicles" on Wednesday, April 27, 2011, from 10:00-Noon EDT. If you have not heard, plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) are coming. You know about hybrids such as hybrid-electric Toyota Prius, but they were just the first step in a long evolution toward virtually emission free, high mile-per-gallon or gasoline-free vehicles.

REGISTER FOR THE FREE WEBINAR

The next frontier is the PEV electric-powered car. This year, dozens of PEV's will start to appear in automobile dealership showrooms and rental car fleets throughout the country. These PEV's won't go as far as a conventional vehicle between refueling, so they will need a place to plug-in and recharge. Charging for three or four hours at a gas station makes no sense, but changing stations in parking garages does.

Learn about how your parking deck can play a role in EV infrastructure.

• Learn about the different types of electric vehicle charging equipment.


• Learn about the different management solutions (access control, profit sharing, free).


• Learn about the different costs and incentives from the public sector.

The Webinar is being offered by Lanier Parking Solutions through a partnership with Clean Cities - Atlanta. The speaker is Don Francis, Executive Director, Clean Cities Atlanta. View Don's bio.

The Webinar is free but requires registration.

The electric car is coming!

Over the past year or so, I have heard a lot of talk about the next coming of electric cars. Automakers are rolling them out at car shows, and cities are building the infrastructure to support them. But I have yet to see a single electric car on the road. What is the deal? Are electric cars coming? From what I have heard and read, it appears as though they are coming, but slowly (see Electric Cars are Coming! and Top 10 electric cars coming to US in 2009/2010).

Every time you bring up the issue of electric cars, someone is bound to point out that plug-in electric cars are not the environmental solution that everyone thinks they are. This is true. For example, what do we do with dead batteries, and what about the power that will be needed when 50,000 of these are rolling on the streets? (see Plug-In Hybrids Could Require 160 New Power Plants By 2030 (Or None At All and Plug-In Hybrids Use Over 17 Times More Water Than Regular Cars, Researchers Say). Since such a large portion of US power generation comes from coal, the increasing use of plug-in hybrid and electric cars will require serious consideration of other energy sources (for an example, see How Solar Panels Could Power 90% of US Transportation).

My recommendation: Get yourself a plug-in hybrid as soon as they become available, and then put solar panels on your roof.