Installation of the Month (May 2021): LADOT Lot 656

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) notes on its website that ICE vehicles are one of the city’s top contributors to air pollution, accounting for 19% of all greenhouse gas emissions, before proclaiming, “We can do better… We’re investing in public transit, testing new technology, and adopting mobility innovations for a cleaner environment and brighter future.” At first, it might just sound like flowery rhetoric, but we can personally attest to that commitment. Starting in 2019, LADOT partnered with us to install DCFCs at 57 city-owned lots, with almost 30% of those installations now completed. This alliance has been integral in promoting our goal of zero-emission mobility in the City of Angels by facilitating greater access to infrastructure.

EVCS CEO Gustavo Occhiuzzo on site at Lot 656

It’s because of this commitment to a sustainable future – including steps taken to electrify their entire bus fleet and advance traffic reduction measures – that we make LADOT’s City Lot 656 our featured site for May. The address is 1615 Colby Avenue in West Los Angeles and can be seen here:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/1615+Colby+Ave,+Los+Angeles,+CA+90025/@34.044509,-118.4549527,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x80c2bb6fc79226a1:0xb463ee8ffb007c9b!8m2!3d34.044509!4d-118.452764

The lot is conveniently situated near the 405 and 10 freeways in close proximity to the main UCLA campus and is walking distance from Sawtelle Japantown’s many distinct restaurants, salons, anime shops and artisan craft stores. Nearby attractions include The Getty Museum, Los Angeles National Cemetery and Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden. More about LADOT’s parking facilities and initiatives can be found on their website:

https://ladot.lacity.org/projects/parking-la

At Lot 656, we put four shiny new DC fast chargers in the ground, all with their own dedicated parking spots solely for EVs. These 50 kW Slim Lines feature 480 VAC three-phase input power, 6000 VAC surge protection, and an over 90% efficiency rating that will charge an EV battery to better than 80% in just one hour. The total cost of the installation, including site assessments, permitting, trenching and electrical work, ran about $400,000 and took a year to complete; however, as technology improves, demand increases and red tape is trimmed, market forces will continue to drive down costs and installation times will shrink.

According to clean energy advocacy group RMI, the cost of hardware components is already dropping as manufacturers streamline their internal processes; rather, soft costs associated with municipal and governmental regulations offer the greatest obstacle to cheaper installations. A report by Chris Nelder that RMI published in 2019 titled “Reducing EV Charging Infrastructure Costs” notes, “the costs of permitting delays, utility interconnection requests, [and] compliance with a balkanized framework of regulations… were frequently cited as more significant cost drivers than charging station hardware in the United States.”

However, LADOT’s enthusiasm in joining with EVCS to chart a path toward greater EV adoption offered us the opportunity to work with them on many of these issues, not only to eventually improve the entire installation process for all LA-based site hosts, but to serve as a national leader for other cities to emulate. Our hope is that such frank conversations will encourage more overall participation by speeding up permitting requests, simplifying regulations and allowing for more efficient allocation of public funding that makes the installation process shorter and less burdensome to site hosts.

For now, we’re just happy to be installing more chargers. City Lot 656 is one small example of what a private/public partnership can accomplish when all goals are aligned. Thank you again to the City of LA and its Department of Transportation for helping us pave new roads to the future!

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Navigating California’s New EV Mandate

California’s going all in on electric. On August 25th, Governor Gavin Newsom made a very important announcement concerning the future of transportation in the Golden State: “We can solve this climate crisis if we focus on the big, bold steps necessary to cut pollution. California now has a groundbreaking, world-leading plan to achieve 100 percent zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035.” Big and bold, indeed. And while highly encouraging, it brings up a number of questions moving forward.

How EVCS is Repairing Reliability Concerns

One of the biggest concerns among EV drivers today is the reliability of public chargers. One recent survey from the Department of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley claims as many as 23% of public chargers in the Bay Area alone are, as Wired sums up, “nonfunctioning at any given time, stymied by broken screens, shoddy credit card or payment systems, network connection failures, or damaged plugs.” And that’s in a locale prioritizing the conversion to electric. Testimony from motorists seems to corroborate these findings. A CEC survey of 1,290 EV drivers found that fully 60% had experienced damaged or inoperable chargers, while almost half needed assistance from customer service. We find this wholly unacceptable and have taken measures to ensure that chargers in the EVCS network rise to the standard of operability our customers expect. Here are a few ways we’re doing that:

Installation of the Month (July 2022): Kenwood Inn & Spa

A key focus for us over the last several years has been the installation of additional chargers at holiday hot spots, tourist destinations, and other key points of interest. Not only will it help dispel long-range travel anxiety among many new EV drivers, but it will also lead to a significant reduction in carbon emissions otherwise generated by gas-guzzlers during peak vacation seasons. Moreover, our egalitarian approach to site selection means we’re just as likely to install a charger at a McDonald’s as we are at a Morton’s since we understand the value in catering to a broad clientele. However, higher net worth individuals continue to drive EV sales in the US (a June 2021 Fuels Institute study specifies middle-aged males with household incomes over $100,000), so catering to venues that offer a luxury experience will encourage even greater participation by this group while serving as a bellwether for lower-income drivers who are attracted to the idea of electric mobility as a symbol of status.

Mexico to Canada EV Road Trip: EVCS Interview

We sat down with EV owner and enthusiast Anthony Williams, a 60-year-old business owner from San Diego, who recently commemorated the 10-year anniversary of his first trans-American road trip in an EV by retracing the same route to see what had changed in the world of EV fast charging, for better or for worse. Below are some of his insights and feedback.

Installation of the Month (June 2022): KPC Anaheim Global Medical Center

“For us, healthcare is not only about caring for our patients, but also about investing in the people who live in our communities.” These are the words emblazoned across the home page of the KPC Anaheim Global Medical Center’s website. Facilities like these are attractive partners for us because, like us, their goal is the betterment of humanity. In fact, just replace “healthcare” with “electric mobility” and “patients” with “planet,” and you have the EVCS mission statement in a nutshell. Allying with kindred spirits creates a natural synergy for us through the sharing of core values like customer service and an improved quality of life. Imagine then our excitement when KPC decided to install four of our newest DC fast chargers on their Anaheim property, giving us the opportunity to continue expanding our network southward.