NY, NJ Parking Lots Sign Up to Charge Electric Vehicles

[jpak]

http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/24/ev-chargers-in-ny-nj/

The Car Charging Group, Inc. (CCGI) this weekend announced a partnership with LAZ Parking in New York and New Jersey to begin outfitting its facilities with smart, electric vehicle charging stations.

The Miami-based CCGI installs and maintains electric vehicle charging stations in government-owned lots, and at commercial sites like shopping malls, hotels, stadiums and corporate parking garages. LAZ Parking operates over 1,300 parking facilities in 21 states and 99 cities. The LAZ Parking sites will be equipped by CCGI with smart, ChargePoint Level II, 240 volts charging stations, manufactured by Coulomb Technologies.

Smart charging stations, unlike those designed for home-garage use, have metering and e-commerce capabilities, and are visible online. Drivers can find smart charging stations on Google Maps, for example.

Coloumb Technologies, the recipient of a $15 million Department of Energy grant (funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the Transportation Electrification Initiative) is a leader in sales of charging stations in the U.S.



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[dmallind]

1. Hmm.. mixed bag

The parking lot operator says $3 hr for 220v. Only likely real world EV on the immediate horizon is Nissan Leaf where they estimate 8 hours at 220 to charge, and a charge lasting 100miles.

$24 for 100 miles is equivalent of $6 a gallon for a normal reasonably but not exceptionally economical car (average 25mpg).

I am fine with the profit motive but that seems swingeing. For 480 maybe where 1-1.5 hrs gets you a full charge but 220 is only much use for top ups unless you are willing to pay twice as much as a gas car for miles. It should only cost you $3 ttal for a full charge at home or less than 40c/hr. Wouldn't a 150% markup for $1 an hour be OK when chargers only cost a couple grand even for residential let alone volume-driven commercial installation?


On the other hand any availability is good. Eventually competition will make chargers better and/or cheaper for this kind of enterprise.

[zipplewrath]

2. Maybe charging for the space too

The $3 may be for using the space too. Just guessing but parking often costs most places, with or without the top up, which is where I think the majority of the market is. Probably not alot of full charges being done.

[dmallind]

3. That might make more sense, but it seemed like he just meant charge.

[Nihil]

4. They'd have to be charging for the space ...

... or they'd lose the space to non-electric cars that would park
there (for a lower/zero price) without using the facilities.

Electric service places would have to retain a useful premium on top
of the cost of the nearby ones if they are to avoid such wastage
(and subsequent frustration from EV drivers who can't recharge!).

[dmallind]

5. Dunno if they would to be honest

Parking lots are all about space utilization. They won't make money on empty spaces hoping an EV happens to want to park there. I suspect there won't be reserved spaces but rather centralized coin/card operated chargers with long cords that can reach multiple spaces.