Early Electric Car Charging
By Scott Wilson

What follows is what I’ve learned on the subject of how exactly the first generation of antique EVs were charged. This is interesting, since there are many striking parallels between how charging was done then and how it’s done now.

If I had a Detroit Electric or Baker, or any of several electric cars in the early 20th century, how would I charge it? One possibility would be that the dealer would keep it charged for me at their own charging location.

(ruralroads.org)

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Charged up: federal employee fights to plug in electric car at work from Medill Washington on Vimeo.

EVA/DC member, Bob Bruninga, talks about the frustrations of a federal employee not being able to plug in his electric car at work even though he is willing to pay for the electricity. Video produced by LiLi Tan for Medill News Service in Washington.

The Redskins win over the Eagles was even sweeter for fans who drove a plug-in electric car to FedExField yesterday. EV drivers can charge at one of ten eVgo charging stations at the stadium. The Level 2 charging near Gate A is provided courtesy of NRG Energy.

For EV drivers who wish to use the charging stations on game day, let the parking staff know that you need to charge and they’ll direct you to the eVgo stations in the Purple Lot.

Getting ICEd refers to the situation that electric vehicle drivers encounter when an internal combustion engine or ICE vehicle blocks access to a charging station. This YouTube video shows how common this is at public charging stations in Santa Monica, California.

The Blink charging network has produced a series of Courtesy Notices that EV drivers can leave on the windshields of gas cars that are blocking charging stations. There are three different tones, from friendly to direct, to choose from.

Do you have a phrasing that you’d prefer for your own “courtesy notice” to an offending ICE driver? Leave a reply in the comments below.

Download the Blink Courtesy Notice here.

This video documents the installation of an Aerovironment 240V, Level 2 charging station (EVSE – Electric Vehicle Service Equipment) in a garage for charging a 2012 Nissan Leaf.  Applicable for any J1772 compliant vehicle, including Leaf, Mitsubishi i and Chevy Volt.

Installation by Cary Electric Company.
Video recorded by Scott Wilson.
Closed captioned.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has recently installed eight charging stations at its Bethesda, MD campus, as part of a pilot program to encourage use of electric vehicles. This program was just described in the biweekly employee newsletter, the NIH Record. Kudos to NIH for being one of the first federal facilities to provide electric vehicle charging stations at the workplace!

Each station is a standard 120V duplex outlet in front of a special parking space. The stations are installed in pairs – two spots next to each other, each with a dedicated 120V outlet. Each outlet is on a separate dedicated 20A circuit. The outlets are wired through an electronic meter to measure usage. There are four pairs of stations in employee parking garages around campus, eight spots total.  An electric vehicle should be able to gain about 32 miles of range while charging at 120V over the course of an eight hour workday.

The signage is very good at these spaces, to clearly indicate that they are reserved for EVs until 9:30 AM (this works well for NIH, where parking is at a premium).  There are four signs / indicators at each spot:

1. A sign of a stylized EV with a plug and an outlet
2. A sign indicating “ELECTRIC VEHICLES ONLY”  in large lettering.  This sign is a recent, great addition which makes the intended use of these spaces more obvious.
3. A sign indicating detailed procedures in small lettering
4. The spot is specially painted with “EV-xx” numbering

The stations are currently free to use during the pilot, sponsored by the NIH Federal Credit Union. Hopefully a mechanism will be developed to allow employees to pay for their own energy usage, so that the program can continue after the pilot period. EV owners are happy to pay for their own energy usage!

EVA/DC provided some guidance for this program in the type, location and usage of these charging stations. Thanks to Robert Winfield for coordinating the EVADC guidance, and for setting up an NIH Electric Vehicle mailing list!