Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure: Obstacles and Prospects

 Bob Kagan

In March of this year Esplanade resident Mitch Glassman and I (on behalf of the Esplanade Environmental Study Group)  wrote our Board of Trustees about the installation  of a  systematic charging system for residents with electric cars and plug-in hybrids. The most accessible approach is the installation of electrical panels in the garage into which electric vehicle (EV) owners could plug in at their own expense. In our letter, we mentioned the substantial subsidy programs for such systems offered by Massachusetts electric utilities, and we acknowledged that Esplanade engineer Ben Bara had already spent considerable time and effort investigating the alternative approaches.

We urged the Board, however, to put a high priority on further progress, first of all for the obvious and urgent environmental reasons. A second reason, we noted, is unit owners’ mutual self-interest: with electric vehicle (EV) ownership predicted to accelerate rapidly in the next decade, the attractiveness and value of all Esplanade units will be enhanced if our building offers easily available EV charging. Increasingly, prospective buyers will expect and insist on that amenity. Moreover, it was our understanding that Massachusetts, working through public utilities, offers substantial subsidies for the installation of such systems.

At the next Board meeting, we were pleased to hear building manager Maureen Burg acknowledge the economic argument for moving forward, and to hear the Board’s promise to conduct a survey of unit owners about their interest in and support for a modern charging system.

Obstacles: Eversource’s current subsidy programs, it turns out, do not cover multi-unit buildings with individually deeded parking spaces – like ours. Moreover, to install a system that would provide the desired “Level Two” (relatively rapid), charging to a significant number of individual vehicles would require a significant increase in the volume of electrical power that our building receives from Eversource; that would probably require installation of a higher capacity transformer, which Eversource currently does not subsidize. Finally, we are concerned that the way the Board’s survey of residents was worded may have yielded a misleadingly low level of support for installing a system. 

Prospects: In a telephone conversation with an administrator in National Grid (another Massachusetts electric utility company), I learned that, unlike Eversource, National Grid has subsidized and advised on the installation of multi-EV charging systems in condominiums, including some with deeded parking spaces.  National Grid’s EV vehicle program administrator assured me that they have the technology for that, and said they also have subsidized the installation of transformers to bring more power to buildings, so as to service Level Two electric vehicle charging.

After first checking with Ben Bara, who had no objection, I then talked to the administrator of  Eversource’s EV program. Both he and his counterpart at National Grid said that in 2022, they expect major increases in their funding for EV charging in multi-unit residences.  The Eversource administrator said that greater funding may enable them to offer subsidies for condos with deeded parking spaces, as well as for new transformers to increase electric power to the buildings.  That sounds like good news, but, of course, it’s not yet a sure thing, and there may be devils in the particular details of fitting such a system to our building’s parking lot.

The Esplanade Environmental Study Group welcomes advice from and participation of residents with respect to the EV issue and other approaches to reducing the Esplanade’s carbon footprint.  Write Bob Kagan – rak@berkeley.edu.