The members of the Electric Vehicle Association of Greater Washington, DC have expressed disappointment in the Arlington County Board decision to disapprove what would have been the nation’s first all-electric taxi fleet. Despite the recommendation of County Manager, Barbara Donnellan and county planning staff, the board voted 3 to 2 against approving 40 certificates for EV Taxicabs, LLC.
EVA/DC Vice President Eric Cardwell said, “the Arlington county board missed out on a great opportunity to have a private company install a massive electric vehicle charging network with no cost to the tax payer. This could have solved all of the board’s chicken and egg questions. Personally as an Arlington resident, I am disappointed that the board lacked the foresight to make Arlington county the electric vehicle destination that it has the potential to be!”
EVA/DC President Emeritus Dave Goldstein added, “Arlington County just blew an opportunity to become one of the high tech destinations in America.”
Mindy’s electrified Smart in the Phoenix electric light parade.
Hi EVADC! Hope things are well out there! It’s been a little more than a year since I left the energetic orbit of the beltway, and I thought I’d send a short update from my new home in the desert Southwest. Here in Phoenix, we have an abundance of incoming solar radiation, and are just starting to see residents and businesses taking advantage of the energy source. There are over 300 public chargers installed and online in the Phoenix metropolitan area, and a few Level III fast-chargers too! Not all of the public chargers are solar-powered, but many are. Phoenix generally has two power companies, and there is not a “choice” program like we have in most DC locations. You must get power through a single provider, and the only choice you have is to pay extra for a “renewables mix” through that power company. I have chosen to pay for this renewables mix (about 59% solar, 34% wind, 5% biomass/biogas, and 2% geothermal), which ensures that my energy consumption is bought from these renewables (it adds $.004 to my per-kWh electricity price). I also get a special rate from the power company because I own an electric vehicle. Between the hours of 11pm and 5am, I pay only $.06/kWh for the whole house! So, now I set timers to do a lot of stuff at night (laundry, dishwasher, charging my phone, and of course charging my car!).
Continue reading
Video montage of Fall 2012 MD Volt meetup.
University of Maryland Engineering Students, faculty, electric vehicle (EV) owners and enthusiasts gathered outside the Engineering Research Center on Saturday, November 10th at the College Park, MD Campus for an EV meetup that featured ride & drives, informal presentations and lunch sponsored by MD Volt Inc.
At lunch, Mark Czajka, Director of MD Volt, welcomed the attendees and turned the podium over to Charlie Garlow, President of EVA/DC, who gave a preview of the next monthly meeting on November 21st. Dr. Alireza Khaligh (UMERC) talked about a partnership he has with Genovation, a green car company based in Rockville, MD working on advanced battery and ultracapacitor technologies to develop the upcoming G2 EV.
Malik & Sal Khattak of EV Taxicabs gave a brief presentation about an all electric Nissan LEAF taxi fleet proposed for Arlington County, Virginia. Jill Sorensen of the Baltimore-Washington Electric Vehicle Initiative (BEVI) spoke about the activities of her organization which led to a brief discussion of issues surrounding public charging station infrastructure.
Doron Shalvi briefs the club on the new charging stations at NIH
About 25 people attended the EVA/DC meeting held on August 15, 2012 at the Silver Spring Library. Many of the attendees arrived in electric vehicles and the parking lot was full of Chevy Volts, Nissan LEAFs and a few other EVs. One person reported that he is expecting delivery of a Zero electric motorcycle within a few days. Another has a Tesla Model S scheduled to be delivered in October and shared his experience trying to find an insurance company willing to insure it.
Lanny Hartmann reported on the MD Volt Meetup at FedExField that was organized by Mark Czajka and hosted by Phil Ovitt of NRG Energy. 27 people and 21 electric vehicles came to the event and all ten eVgo charging stations were used.
Eric Cardwell gave the group his evaluation of the Ford Focus Electric that he drove at the MD Volt Meetup. He had driven a pre-production version in 2010 and he is impressed with the improvements Ford has made since then. Eric also wrote a Ford Focus Electric review.
Chip Gribben gave us the details on the upcoming 2012 Power of DC.
Joe Lado updated us on plans for National Plug In Day in front of the Capitol Building on September 23.
Jill Sorensen spoke about BEVI’s participation in the Maryland Customer Investment Fund (CIF) hearings. BEVI submitted a proposal to fund electric vehicle fleet and infrastructure development in Maryland as part of the $113.5M available as a result of the Exelon merger with Constellation Energy Group. BEVI’s was the only transportation-related proposal out of the 98 that the Public Service Commission received in response to its request for proposals. Though the BEVI proposal was Not Recommended for funding, Jill reported that BEVI is pursuing its appeal to include transportation in how we define clean energy and energy efficiency, particularly through EVs and renewable energy sources that can power our EVs. Click here to read Jill’s PSC Statement.
John Lippert is again organizing the Green Transportation Rally section of the Greenbelt Labor Day Parade. He said there are plans to include two Fisker Karmas in the parade.
Elvia Thompson told us of plans for EV Days in Annapolis. Volunteers who can bring cars on Saturday September 15 should contact Elvia. starboard@annapolisgreen.com
Katherine Arredondo, karredondo@cleancurrents.com Director of Solar PPA at Clean Currents gave a presentation about green energy solutions for powering electric vehicles.
An announcement was made about a grand unveiling of charging stations for PMI Parking garage in Crystal City. The event will be sometime in September, possibly the 9th or 16th.
Doron Shalvi talked to the group about a pilot program at NIH to install charging stations to encourage commuters to use electric vehicles.
Dave Goldstein gave us an update on EV policy issues including a vote in U.S. Congress on a tax credit for certain electric vehicles and a General Motors plan to study Vehicle to Grid (V2G) technology.
Submitted by Lanny Hartmann
