Other cars block electric charging stations

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Joe Siudzinski travels around town just fine in his six electric vehicles. He can get by with a 15-minute charge on a round trip from his home to the San Francisco airport, or a breakfast break and a longer top-off on a drive to Monterey, about 50 miles south.

But he’s found a bug in the network: people. They park gasoline cars at charging stations, unplug vehicles to refill their own batteries and otherwise foul up the system.

Siudzinski, a retired engineering director, tries to debug an already strained network. He slips a red note under the windshield wipers of offenders — gas powered cars, or fully charged or disconnected EVs — with a reminder: “You are parked in an Electric Vehicle Charging Station. How would you react if your fuel tank was empty and someone was blocking your access to the only open fueling station in the area?”

Said Siudzinski: “A charging station is not an automatic parking privilege.”

As EVs have grown in popularity, businesses and governments in California are scrambling to meet the power demands of green vehicle owners and support a state goal to have 1.5 million zero-emission cars on the state’s roads by 2025. In some spots, demand for charging stations has outstripped supply.

That demand has sparked competition at stations and among businesses looking for a position in a growing market. And no one seems to think there’s a good solution in sight.

The state Public Utilities Commission in September rejected a controversial proposal by utility PG&E to build 25,000 charging stations across the region, mostly at workplaces and at densely populated apartment and condominium complexes. The $654 million price tag would have been passed along to residential customers through a monthly fee of about 70 cents.

The commission found the utility failed to ease concerns about its potential to dominate competition and chill innovation in the market. The utility recently resubmitted a scaled down plan to build up to 7,500 stations over three years.

Aaron Johnson, PG&E vice president of customer energy solutions, said nearly one-quarter of all EVs sold in the United States are in the utility’s coverage area. About 160,000 EVs are registered in California. The company estimates the region has about 6,000 public stations and needs about 100,000 to meet future demand.

A widespread charging network needs to be built, he said.

Pasquale Romano, CEO of ChargePoint, an electric charging station network, said PG&E cannot meet the needs of Bay Area drivers as they extend past the utility’s coverage area. Romano said a robust infrastructure should be built with better public and private partnerships and also include balanced government incentives.

ChargePoint counts nearly 25,000 commercial chargers in its international network. The company sells stations and collects monthly fees from owners hooked up to the network. “It’s not a gas station model,” Romano said. “It never will be.”

Electric fill-ups cannot be as quick as gasoline — taking anywhere from 20 minutes to a day or longer — but Romano believes increased battery range and more familiarity with the technology will ease consumer concerns about running out of power.

Jerry Pohorsky, a zero-emission car owner since 1999, said so-called range anxiety can be overcome. Pohorsky gets about 75 miles from a charge in his 2002 electric Toyota RAV4, but he once made a 200 mile trip from his home to visit his mother. “Just to prove I could,” he said.

Luxury automaker Tesla has taken another approach. The company is building a proprietary, worldwide network of charging stations that provide free hookups for Tesla owners. The vehicles claim a range of about 250 miles, several times greater than a typical EV.

The network’s goal is to provide Tesla owners high-powered chargers in locations where drivers want to be — shopping malls, tourist stops and other destinations, said spokeswoman Alexis Georgeson. The company has almost 250 Tesla Supercharger stations in North America and nearly 550 around the world.

The fast chargers have proved so popular that the company emailed Tesla owners in August to remind them the fast-charging stations were designed for long distance travelers, not daily commuters.

In some ways, the construction of a network is a chicken-and-egg problem. The existence of more charging stations encourages more people to buy electric vehicles, according to research by the International Council on Clean Transportation, and that means even more charging stations are needed.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

Black Press Media operates Sound Publishing, the largest community news organization in Washington State with dailies and community news outlets in Alaska.
Black Press Media concludes transition of ownership

Black Press Media, which operates Sound Publishing, completed its sale Monday (March 25), following the formerly announced corporate restructuring.

Maygen Hetherington, executive director of the Historic Downtown Snohomish Association, laughs during an interview in her office on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, in Snohomish, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Maygen Hetherington: tireless advocate for the city of Snohomish

Historic Downtown Snohomish Association receives the Opportunity Lives Here award from Economic Alliance.

FILE - Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs poses in front of photos of the 15 people who previously held the office on Nov. 22, 2021, after he was sworn in at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. Hobbs faces several challengers as he runs for election to the office he was appointed to last fall. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs: ‘I wanted to serve my country’

Hobbs, a former Lake Stevens senator, is the recipient of the Henry M. Jackson Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Mark Duffy poses for a photo in his office at the Mountain Pacific Bank headquarters on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Mark Duffy: Building a hometown bank; giving kids an opportunity

Mountain Pacific Bank’s founder is the recipient of the Fluke Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Barb Tolbert poses for a photo at Silver Scoop Ice Cream on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Barb Tolbert: Former mayor piloted Arlington out of economic brink

Tolbert won the Elson S. Floyd Award, honoring a leader who has “created lasting opportunities” for the underserved.

Photo provided by 
Economic Alliance
Economic Alliance presented one of the Washington Rising Stem Awards to Katie Larios, a senior at Mountlake Terrace High School.
Mountlake Terrace High School senior wins state STEM award

Katie Larios was honored at an Economic Alliance gathering: “A champion for other young women of color in STEM.”

The Westwood Rainier is one of the seven ships in the Westwood line. The ships serve ports in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast Asia. (Photo provided by Swire Shipping)
Westwood Shipping Lines, an Everett mainstay, has new name

The four green-hulled Westwood vessels will keep their names, but the ships will display the Swire Shipping flag.

A Keyport ship docked at Lake Union in Seattle in June 2018. The ship spends most of the year in Alaska harvesting Golden King crab in the Bering Sea. During the summer it ties up for maintenance and repairs at Lake Union. (Keyport LLC)
In crabbers’ turbulent moment, Edmonds seafood processor ‘saved our season’

When a processing plant in Alaska closed, Edmonds-based business Keyport stepped up to solve a “no-win situation.”

Angela Harris, Executive Director of the Port of Edmonds, stands at the port’s marina on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Edmonds, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Leadership, love for the Port of Edmonds got exec the job

Shoring up an aging seawall is the first order of business for Angela Harris, the first woman to lead the Edmonds port.

The Cascade Warbirds fly over Naval Station Everett. (Sue Misao / The Herald file)
Bothell High School senior awarded $2,500 to keep on flying

Cascade Warbirds scholarship helps students 16-21 continue flight training and earn a private pilot’s certificate.

Rachel Gardner, the owner of Musicology Co., a new music boutique record store on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 in Edmonds, Washington. Musicology Co. will open in February, selling used and new vinyl, CDs and other music-related merchandise. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Edmonds record shop intends to be a ‘destination for every musician’

Rachel Gardner opened Musicology Co. this month, filling a record store gap in Edmonds.

MyMyToyStore.com owner Tom Harrison at his brick and mortar storefront on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Burst pipe permanently closes downtown Everett toy store

After a pipe flooded the store, MyMyToystore in downtown Everett closed. Owner Tom Harrison is already on to his next venture.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.