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Electric Vehicles are a key part of our tomorrow and how we get there. If we can get all the fossil fuel vehicles off our roads, out of our seas and out of our skies, we'll have a much better environment. This community is where we discuss the various different vehicles and news stories regarding electric transportation.
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I get the issue makes total sense. Slower charging you have no control over means you get charged more per kwh. However, since I don't see it addressed in the article... Are they legally able to charge for the electricity itself there?
I know in some areas only utility companies can charge for electricity, so charging for the time connected is the only way they can legally charge you for the power provided.
I don’t see it addressed in the article… Are they legally able to charge for the electricity itself there?
Yes, that is why they are cracking down on places where they are charging for the time period.
The stop-use order was applied one day after Weights and Measures received an email alerting them that the charging stations in a parking garage near the Mall at Columbia were billing users $2.35 per hour. Apparently, it is not allowed to sell EV charging by any other means than by the kWh in Maryland.
Many of these HHC-owned chargers have shared power, meaning multiple vehicles share the available electricity, which can reduce the charging speed. If both ports are in use at a shared-power station, the energy delivered (kWh) per hour can be halved, resulting in a higher cost per kWh.
Ah somehow I missed that sentence when reading it before.
Ism’t that just automatic dynamic rate adjustment based on demand?
An illegal version maybe. There is zero reason why the price should change because two cars were hooked up to the same power source. Two cars dexiding between 8 ooen spots could get 1/2 charge because they happened to park next to each other.
That would be like pricing gas based on how many people where using the same pump.
Gas stations adjust their pricing several times a day in some cases. For the record, I am against this hourly charge for EVs… maybe I’d be ok with it if the parking lot had a parking fee and the kWhs were gratis.
I get the reason but I also don't want people using charging stations as cheap long term parking. They could be taking up a charging spot to avoid paying for parking.
Luckily the issue of "cars park too long in spaces" is a solved problem.
Meters, meter monitors, timed parking in general has been around for a long time.
Tow the cars parking beyond the limit, and that becomes a non-issue. No idea what the maximum charge time is on compatible EVs but just put it a little longer than that, and nobody has a reason (beyond the normal things that affect all drivers in timed spaces) to stay there beyond the charging time.
Luckily the issue of "cars park too long in spaces" is a solved problem.
That's the entire point! The EV chargers aren't allowed to bill for sitting in a space for days. They put a meter on it based on going over an hour and were stopped from doing so.
I don't think that idling fees are affected by this