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Boston selects vendors to install curbside EV charging stations starting later this summer
By adamg on Fri, 06/28/2024 - 10:29am
Boston yesterday announced it has hired three companies to roll out curbside EV chargers across the city - one to build chargers the city will own, the other two to build chargers they will own and maintain.
According to the mayor's office, there are now some 7,000 electricity-powered vehicles registered in Boston, up from 936 just four years ago. The city wants to see even more, but many residents are limited because they have no easy access to charging stations, whether because they live in older buildings without chargers or in homes without a driveway in which to install one. Mayor Wu has set a goal of having chargers within a five-minute walk of every Bostonian.
Chargers on streets that require neighborhood parking permits will require cars to display their permits; chargers at spaces that now have parking meters will continue to require a meter fee in addition to a charging fee, the city says. Installation should begin later this summer, the city says.
Better Together Brain Trust of Roxbury will build a series of 19.2-kW chargers for Boston at or near city parks and playgrounds, starting with chargers at the Honan-Allston Library in Allston, the Charlestown Navy Yard, Puddingstone Garden, Hemenway Playground and the Erie-Ellington Playground in Dorchester, Ross Playground in Hyde Park, Almont Playground in Mattapan, North Street Park in the North End, Healy Field in Roslindale, Beauford Playground in Roxbury and Billings Field in West Roxbury. Exact locations will be set after neighborhood meetings.
19.2-kW chargers provide more oomph per hour than typical home charging stations, but not as much as the Level II and Level III DC Fast Charging stations planned by itselectric of New York and Greenspot of Jersey City, NJ, for commercial districts across the city. Greenspot already has a map showing its plans for 23 charging stations from East Boston to Jamaica Plain.
Eversource and the state are kicking in a total of $3 million to help pay for installation of the new chargers.
Through the demonstration project, the City is seeking to test different models of providing EV charging: some will be owned and run by the City and others by private companies at no cost to the City.
The city adds:
In addition to the curbside program, the City is currently installing 32 Level II and 8 Level III DC Fast Charging stations in municipal parking lots located in Roxbury, Dorchester, Roslindale, Brighton and Allston. When all projects currently underway are completed, there will be more than 170 Level II and 8 Level III EV charging ports in operation.
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Comments
Hmmm
Wonder how this will work on all the streets that parking is being moved away from the curb to allow for more bike lanes? Might be tough to keep that five minute walk promise.
Nice Smokescreen
These are needed on residential streets, not the major streets that get bike lanes.
Nice try, though.
Great, placed them on
Great, placed them on residential streets in area’s where parking is already limited , place them in residential area’s where folks can barely afford the insurance on their gas vehicles let alone purchase a new electric vehicle. . makes a lot of sense .
Did you read the links?
You didn't read the links.
Most bike lanes in Boston are slated for major roads, not the residential streets where these are most needed.
This may surprise you
But major roads have a lot of housing.
Per the article, many residents are limited because they have no easy access to charging stations, whether because they live in older buildings without chargers or in homes without a driveway in which to install one.
Let's take Mass Ave for example. Major road, older buildings, no driveways, bike lane, 90% housing so it seems it would qualify as a needed location.
Tremont, Columbus, Center, Warren, Blue Hill, Columbia, Beacon...all have a very high density of residential units and bike lanes so I am still wondering how chargers will work on these streets and how the 5 minute goal will be accomplished.
I'd argue smaller residential streets are not where these are needed most based on density and the factors laid out in the plan.
They also all have...
They also all have side streets off them on which the chargers can be placed and still easily be within a 5 minute walk of the main drag.
True
But i suppose you would need a lot of chargers oj those side roads to cover the volume of residential units on the main drags.
I guess they are only offering chargers and not necessarily promising there will be enough for all that need one. It's like waiting on the dryer in an apartment building.
This May Surprise You
But it wouldn't if you read the links - the group advocating and planning these chargers are aware of bike lanes.
Don't worry, honey, nobody is going to take away your pwecious gas-powered car and make you ride a bike. Or force you to live in a 15 minute walk zone. Stop believing everything your class of '70something pals post on Facebook.
You just can't help yourself
We understand and wish you the best.
Clarification on technical specs
Any electrical engineers or utility folks know about the availability of 80A electrical service curbside? The product being supplied by Better Together seems to be the Flo CoRe+ MAX Level 2 Charging Stations, whose spec sheet gives charging power between 1.2 and 19.2 kW. Level 2 just means it is a 240V charger. Most home level 2 chargers are supplied with 15A electrical service, meaning they produce 3.6 kW (power = voltage x current). 19.2 kW is only possible with 80A of electrical service; less current means less power (slower charge). Is 80A really available at sidewalks? Relatedly, I'm not sure how itselectric could have faster level 2 chargers than this, unless they get even higher currents, which seems dangerous...
(PS Adam, you don't need a hyphen between "19.2" and "kW," just as you wouldn't say a marathon is a "26.2-mi" race.)
2-phase
I can't imagine a neighborhood not having 2-phase. Those are out of phase, so that's 240vac right there.
When I got my type 2 installed, no pole changes were required.
huh?
"Most home level 2 chargers are supplied with 15A electrical service, meaning they produce 3.6 kW"
I had a 60A circuit installed for mine in JP last year and charge at about 12kW (48A hardwired charger - and for those interested it was essentially free thanks to Eversource rebates. I just had to pay for the actual EVSE unit on the wall and they paid for installation).
Almost everyone I know who has installed an L2 charger has installed at minimum a 40A circuit. Folks using old clothes dryer circuits are usually on 30A, with a plug-in charger. I can't imagine being limited to 3.6kW charge speed. I plug my car in roughly once a week and it's done in about 4 hours, while I sleep.
For Some People
Their only frame of reference with electric cars was the golf carts at the country club their dad had a membership at 40 years ago.
Long Marches
Judging by typical double-parking and space-saver deployment that's about 5 minutes longer than the average motorist is willing to walk.
We can't even ...
Park within a 5 minute walk from our homes in most neighborhoods
Chargers on streets that
Existing resident-parking-permit spaces should be converted to non-resident metered parking if public chargers are being installed. You can't have people parking there for 12 hours. They need to move their car after 2 hours so someone else can charge there. If cars can only park there for a couple of hours at a time, they may as well not be resident-only.
It dosn't say "will ONLY require"
I strongly suspect that in addition to requiring a residential permit cars will also only be permitted to park there while actively charging.
The permit requirement isn't to allow people to park there indefinitely, it's to protect that resource for residents rather than have people driving into the neighborhood to charge.
This
After polls showing close of 50% of EV owners want to transition back to ICE vehicles.
No a Wu problem, but a federal issue. The cart was about a mile in front of the horse
are you high, anon?
The polls to which you are likely referring also clearly show that concerns about necessary infrastructure is strongly correlated to interest in ev ownership. Obviously, most people aren’t going to change their minds about that unless there’s an improvement in actual infrastructure. So the city is doing exactly what needs to be done at this point in history if we want to see more evs and fewer ices on city roads.
...while those of us who want
...while those of us who want to see both fewer EVs and fewer ICEs are stuck hoping that the T can get train service back to 1990 levels before the legislature decides it's easier to just turn the whole thing off than to get political support for adequate funding.
Simple claims
Require simple evidence.
Because you have presented none to support your derisive opinion - I cant assume you're here to offer best advice in good faith.
Funny thing about talking points ...
They are often cherrypicked and show up absent context.
Research takes some time, but you might want to do some where you find and evaluate the source of the information surrounding oversimplified sound bites and "repeat it and it will be true" social media blather. Parrots get tiresome.