Drivers are staying too long in electrical-vehicle (EV) charging stalls – so the city might implement parking fees at municipal charging stations to cut down on idle time.
According to the city, charging EVs has more than doubled in the city’s stations over the past two years.
Electrical cars, however, are being left in charging stalls even after they are fully charged – about 30 per cent of the time in the EV stalls is non-charging time - or "idle" time, a city staff report notes.
Rates suggested by the city are $2 per hour for the first two hours and $5 for subsequent hours at “level 2” charging stations. At faster-charging stations (25KW), fees could be $8 per hour and $16 per hour for the fastest charging stations (50kW).
The fast-charging stations take about 30 minutes to an hour to fully charge an EV., whereas “level 2” chargers taken four to six hours.
Fees are charged per minute.
The city is expecting “substantial growth” in EV car ownership – projections show there will be more than 10,000 EVs in Richmond within four years, up from 1,750 in 2019.
Currently the city has 14 charging stations at municipal facilities with six more coming on board soon, and 26 more planned in the future.
City council will deal with the EV charging fees at Monday’s committee meeting.
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