A few additional tidbits based on comments: - Price at all locations is currently $0.20 per kWh - Software/charging app platform is provided by Amp Up - ampup.io/ - Hardware vendor is EVSE LLC - evsellc.com/ - Plugshare location of the interview site: www.plugshare.com/location/320644 - Previous video showing the activation process: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3WzMyfoS4FA.html
Right. I was glad to see the Seattle program but it's been several years and only three cities in the US acting on the solution? We need more Sustainability Managers like Martha at work, I guess!
@@plugandplayEVthe seattle program is great. You can even request a install location. Many are being installed right now. Main issues with deployment is that neighbors having to agree on the install. There is approximately 30 scheduled for install.
@@tkmedia3866 Assuming that the primary reason for neighbors objecting to the install is not wanting to lose places to park their gas cars, maybe rather than one or two spaces with chargers reserved for EV only, a better way to do is to just give every parking space on the block a charger, but with no "EV only/vehicle must be charging" rules. It may seem wasteful at first to build so many chargers that will spend most of their time blocked by ICE vehicles. But, if we ever want the number of apartment dwellers with EVs to be non-trivial, it's important to be willing to proactively provide chargers for future demand, rather than simply reacting to charger demand which is already there. I will also say that if I were a person living on this block, deciding whether to buy an EV or not, I would still be extremely hesitant because two chargers on the block, shared by the entire neighborhood, is very likely to be chronically full. Especially since you're competing for the space not only with other apartment dwellers who lack home charging, but also EV-driving visitors to the neighborhood - who do have home charging - but simply want the parking space. On the other hand, if an entire block were filled with chargers, particularly multiple blocks, now, finding a charger is no harder than circling around for a space to park a gas car - even if the rules allow ICE'ing. Which, admittedly, is often not easy, but presumably there are off-peak hours where it is usually doable. This, I think, is what you need if you really want to turbocharge EV adoption among apartment dwellers.
@@tkmedia3866 Right, I can see if there's no immediate benefit to a neighbor, there could be some NIMBYism creeping in. It's an interesting approach to integrate requests as well. Really ups the involvement of the community and creates some engaged stakeholders from day 1. Another aspect I'll need to explore, thanks for the thought.
@@plugandplayEV looking at the handful of the proposed locations, majority are at places that are mixed used with rec, retail, apartments, condos and houseboat areas. Im not all that surprised that few of the locations are in the older homes in more working class neighborhoods. A lot of the older homes have difficulty with charging and would really benefit. Half of the locations will just be standard pedestals. As of a couple of years ago, new housing in Seattle are required to at least be prewired for L2 charging. They will be 9kw AC charging, and similar to the existing Seattle DC curbside charging they will be on the Shell Recharge network.
Fantastic idea and I believe this is starting to catch on in Toronto and Montreal as well...IIRC. But excellent to provide street side charging access and the charging price is extremely reasonable. This is the type of thing that will make EV adoption much easier and for a lot more of the population not just those of us with garages and driveways. Have a great day Steve and Thank you for the video! Mike 🇨🇦
This IS AN AWESOME WAY to put in charging for Apartment / Condo / high density. 4 - 6 spots in a medium to large Apt/Condo complexes is nothing short of BRILLIANT!! On the pole in a lot, they’re off the ground/out of the way until needed. Thanks for giving this the air time it deserves Steve!!
I had never considered that it was cheaper. I was wondering why you did the stand up in front of a location that did not have a sidewalk. I had been under the impression that the only reason to put them up a pole was to keep cords away from sidewalks. Thanks for covering that part.
Yes, this was just the most convenient location for the two of us but the city tried them in a variety of sites for the pilot. A few are in city lots serving retail and transit locations, one at a golf course, and three or four streetside with a sidewalk.
Thank you, Tom. There are some limitations, which I'll get into in the video touring all of these chargers, but it's still surprising to see very little adoption as we approach the three-year mark of this successful pilot.
Great interview Steve and great questions, especially on reliability. I'm glad they have held up a couple years but hopefully they will fix them when they break. We don't have telephone poles in most areas here in SoCal so we may not see these here.
It’s very cool. I’ve seen this a bunch of times over the years. I have 3 poles on my block and the next block has 5. This would be wonderful to have on the poles in my neighborhood
That is a great idea. Thank you for showing us. I like that the cables retract so that they become less available to vandals. I noticed that the chargers are situated on the sides of the poles that face the street, and that the chargers slightly overhang the street. There is a risk of tall vehicles colliding with the chargers. It might be wise to situate the chargers and associated equipment on the sides of the poles that face away from the street so that the poles help protect the chargers from mechanical damage.
Martha has been a bit of a media star over the course of the pilot, yes! The original launch was actually several years back, but media interest continues to bubble up. The only head scratcher is that more municipalities haven't given the tech a try?!
Applaud, this forward thinking municipality. It’s disheartening to see many municipalities claim difficulty with this type of installation but they are quick to install pole mounted security, cameras, speed cameras, and parking munimeters on every corner.
Thanks! There are various parties at play with utility pole infrastructure, from the municipality to the utility and any other group that uses the poles for hardware, such as telecom companies. All have to agree to sign off, as well as the adjacent properties in some cases, which goes some way to explaining the delays.
Fantastic video and solution. I assume these are level 2 equivalent? I don't know what to do about ICE enforcement. So ridiculous. I see it all the time, especially at prime spots like airports for example.
While having the poles in the first place is a terrible idea in this century, if you've got that kind of janky thing going on, you might as well use a system like this. I've seen a lot of solutions for on street parking from poles that come out of the pavement itself like a traffic bollard, or chargers built into street lamps and this is another viable option. I'm sure you could hang it off a street lamp as well as a telegraph pole. Having more options so it can be installed in more streets is a good thing.
Yes, these are all over the US so making additional use of them is worthwhile. Although you're right to highlight the aging approach to electrical infrastructure, which is easily knocked out by a vehicle strike or extreme weather.
@@plugandplayEV ironically it's both the ICE vehicles that won't get AI drivers and cause the increased extreme weather that could take them out :D This surely has to be one of the more cost effective ways to extend charging in the short term. Honestly what I mostly see is people making whiny excuses about how you can't have charging for an EV unless you have a garage or driveway, even though we're about ten technological solution and counting toward doing exactly that (not counting the humble extension cord which isn't ideal but is far from impossible to use).
This is a good start. But, it's worth thinking about what to do when parking gets tight. Figuring out how to balance the use of the street space between people who need to charge vs. people who just want the parking space is going to get extremely tricky once the number of chargers and EVs becomes non-trivial. In particular, I'm imagining a future where urban level 2 chargers start to act a lot like parking meters, covering the entire block, rather than just a couple of spaces, and charging fees that are determined general parking demand, rather than the cost of electricity, and ICE'ing or overstaying past 100% being legal, so long as you pay the parking fee. While I think moves like this are going to be necessary to make EV charging reliable, they will, unfortunately, make it quite expensive because it effectively means EV drivers would have to pay for parking twice (once for the home parking space that doesn't have charging, a second time for actual charging).
Seems like it would have the advantage of being less vulnerable to theft/vandalism as it is out of sight most of the time and would be situated in areas with a lot of foot traffic.
Absolutely. Melrose is a fairly quiet suburb of Greater Boston, so perhaps not the main concern here, but easy to see the advantage of having vulnerable hardware above eye level in more volatile locations.
the key here is cost saving on installation. No concrete base and no buried conduit for wires. They are also mounted at a height where stray damage from car bumpers is not a problem either. The 20 cents per Kw is near what you pay for home electricity, so nobody is getting rich. This is the city providing a service.
We've seen very little of the vandalism/copper theft here that other areas have seen, but I agree that any solution that's out of sight is also out of mind, which has to be a good thing on several fronts.
I can understand the allure of this. But it looks like a huge safety and liability issue. Seriously, having a 220V 30A 7.2KW line being used outdoors by the general public is a fatality waiting to happen. Yes, I'm sure there are interlocks and safety specs but failure is only a matter of time.
