San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Councilwoman Lori Zapf were in Ocean Beach last week promoting the two new electric vehicle charging stations installed in the Life Guard parking lot. Both politicos feel that with the City’s surge in offering stations to the public – now up to 68 – shows that San Diego is becoming a municipal leader in dealing with climate change.
“Move over Portland, San Diego is growing greener and we’re growing smarter,” Zapf said, as it has been reported than there are currently an estimated 13,000 electric vehicles on the road in San Diego.
Faulconer and Zapf were celebrating the end of a project that went from installing 32 to now 68 stations, distributed around 15 public locations, including parks, beaches and libraries. It’s all part of the City’s plan to address the impact of climate change – adopted by the City Council in December 2015.
Faulconer declared at the press conference:
“These stations make it easier than ever before to charge your electric vehicles and, or course, reduce greenhouse gases. This is a milestone for a sustainable, clean San Diego.”
Councilwoman Zapf praised the people of Ocean Beach, and said residents of OB are “some of the greenest, most thoughtful stewards of our environment”.
Nine of the 15 locations were established since 2014 with a $500,000 grant from the California Energy Commission. Besides the OB location, the charging stations can be found throughout the city, such as at the downtown central library, the San Diego Zoo, and San Diego State University’s aquatic center in Mission Bay. Plus, there now is the first on-street charging station — in Hillcrest at the intersection of Normal Street and University Avenue.
The stations accept credit cards, with fees ranging from $1.50 to $1.80 per hour of charging.
San Diego County currently has about 1,000 plug-in ports at 377 locations, according to the San Diego Association of Governments. (See this map of publicly available charging locations in this and other regions is maintained at plugshare.com.)
Fox5 reported:
Last month, San Diego Gas & Electric proposed a massive expansion of its own EV charging station program. In filings with the California Public Utilities Commission, SDG&E proposed installing tens of thousands of them to encourage the transition to zero-emission vehicles.
If the plan is approved, additional stations would be installed at Lindbergh Field and Port of San Diego facilities. They would also be provided for delivery fleets, taxis and ride-hailing businesses, park-and-ride locations and residences.
SDG&E said it is also working on placing electric charging infrastructure at 350 apartments, condos and businesses in the region. Fox5
According to the SD Union-Tribune:
To date, the energy commission has awarded nearly $65 million to pay for more than 7,800 electric vehicle charging stations. The state expects to dole out an additional $17 million for electric charging infrastructure through the next fiscal year.
For the San Diego region, the state awarded nearly $9 million last year to four companies to build 61 “fast chargers” along Interstate 5, Highway 99 and Highway 101. These stations allow electric vehicles to power up within 20 to 30 minutes. …
The assorted efforts reflect an ongoing push by government leaders to boost use of electric cars and other zero-emission vehicles as a key way to lower greenhouse-gas emissions, which are linked to climate change. Experts have cited the lack of charging stations in California and the rest of the nation as a leading reason why very few Americans have decided to purchase an electric vehicle.
This definitely reflects Gov. Jerry Brown’s program to promote zero-emission vehicles for Californians to use at least 1.5 million such cars and trucks by 2025.
Besides SDG&E’s plans, Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison both have like projects as part of proposals to develop a comprehensive support infrastructure for electric vehicles.
Together, the three utilities’ plans would cost more than $1 billion. The companies are seeking approval from the California Public Utilities Commission to raise ratepayers’ monthly electricity bills to pay for the envisioned projects.
Other news source: Times of San Diego
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I bet they’re counting car2go in that number. Greenwashing! Soon to be car2go away since they will be removing the electric cars.
Why is Zapf praising the people in OB who had no say whatsoever about installing these stations, or maybe she doesn’t know that.
At least she and Kevin came to OB. They don’t usually show up. Kevin’s reps have stopped coming to community meetings.
Yea, but they didn’t come to OB to listen to the people of OB, they came for themselves to show off their greeness. Which is a crock.