Taxpayers pay bill for new, rarely used electric car chargers

Taxpayers have paid for new electric car chargers installed at parking lots and garages around the state, but most chargers in southwest Ohio are used only a handful of times every month.

Clean Fuels Ohio awarded nearly $250,000 in federally financed grants to businesses and cities to buy and install more than 50 electric car-charging stations from 2009 to 2013. The grants paid for half of the electric car charging costs. Nationally, the Department of Energy funded more than 18,000 residential and public chargers with $115 million in stimulus funds.

Eight charging stations were installed at locations in Monroe, Franklin, Cincinnati, Milford, Centerville and Dayton. Drivers pull up to the stations, take the cord, and plug it into the car to charge for a few hours. Traffic has been slow at many of those stations; in the year since Centerville opened its two charging stations to the public, each charger has been used an average of five times per month.

Proponents of alternative energy sources defend the charging stations, saying they are an easy and low-cost way to embrace environmentally friendly practices of the future.

“We knew going into it that electric vehicles are an emerging market and it will take awhile for the market to grow,” said Jennifer Wilder, the assistant to Centerville’s city manager. “We wanted to be on the forefront.”

Slow car sales

One reason why the chargers are not used a lot is that sales of plug-in electric cars are slow. In November 2013, more than 8,000 plug-in electric vehicles were sold, three times the total sold in November 2011, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, but still less than one percent of total car sales. The cars range in price from approximately $30,000 to $90,000, and buyers get a federal tax credit of $7,500 for their purchase.

More than 158,000 plug-in electric cars have been sold in the U.S. from December 2010 to November 2013. Plug-in electric vehicles use either a battery or a combination of battery power and gasoline to power the car. The Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt are the most common plug-in cars on the road today.

Some electric cars, like Honda’s RAV-4 plug-in, aren’t available for purchase yet in Ohio, said Cynthia Maves, the director of grant administration at Clean Fuels Ohio.

“It’s a slower process,” Maves said. “The auto manufacturers have been slow to introduce the cars (in Ohio). … We’re still in the early stages of adoption.”

Centerville officials were attracted to the idea of purchasing two car chargers — one installed at the municipal building and another in the city’s downtown near restaurants and shopping last January — in part, because of the federal grant matching program. The city spent $3,500 on each charger. The federal grant sponsored through the nonprofit Clean Fuels Ohio picked up the other half.

“We didn’t have to put 100 percent into the (charging station),” Wilder said. “It eases the unknown.”

And, if city officials ever want to add an electric car to their fleet, a charging station will already be available for municipal workers to use, she added.

Charging for business

The grants also provided some businesses — a Walgreens in Franklin and the Cincinnati Premium Outlets in Monroe — a 50 percent match for installing charging stations at their locations.

There’s no doubt alternative energy sources, such as a electric cars, are the wave of the future, Greg Lawson, a policy analyst at the conservative think-tank, the Buckeye Institute, said. But he argues government shouldn’t be funding such projects — especially for private businesses.

“Why is government getting involved in doing these things? When you’re essentially getting grant money to individual types of businesses, you’re in a sense picking winners and losers,” Lawson said. “If it’s such a great deal and it’s going to help bring people to a particular location, that’s a business decision someone should make on their own.”

Walgreens has installed roughly 400 charging stations at pharmacy stores across the nation, including 11 that were installed in Ohio using a government-backed grant through Clean Fuels Ohio. Simon Property Group, which owns the Cincinnati Premium Outlets, has installed 10 charging stations at all five of its malls in Ohio, said Maria Weber, a spokeswoman for the company.

“We view this as a consumer initiative that underscores our commitment to providing sustainable amenities for our customers,” Weber wrote in an email. She was unable to provide data for how often the charging stations have been used.

The charging station installed at the outlets in Monroe is one of three charging stations in Butler County. A charging station once located at Bridgewater Falls in Fairfield Twp. has been taken out, a spokeswoman said.

The charging station in Monroe keeps James Rubenstein, a professor of geography at Miami University who drives an electric car, the Chevy Volt, visiting the mall. The charging station at the outlet mall is only one of two “Level Two” charging stations — which can charge a car in roughly four hours — installed near him.

“They’ve got my business for now,” Rubenstein said of the outlet mall.

Rubenstein charged his car for the first time this week at Miami University, where he says officials have been slow to publicize and promote the charging station that has been on campus there since June 2012. Miami University spent $26,000 of university funds to install the charging station in the parking lot of the Marcum Hotel and Conference Center.

“Today is the first day I’ve charged my car here at Miami,” Rubenstein said Thursday. “I’m just thrilled Miami has put these charging stations in. It has taken them a while to get the charging stations turned on and to get the parking spaces reserved so that those of us with electric cars could use it.”

Sean Krause, an Oxford resident who also owns a Chevy Volt, said he isn’t able to charge his car with the university plug sometimes because people park in the charging spot and the university hasn’t blocked off the area for electric car drivers.

The university was unable to provide usage data for its two electric outlets because the card that tracks use was broken, Ritter Hoy, a university spokeswoman said. She said the charging station was turned on in April 2013 and use of the station has been light.

Yvette Kline, the director of sustainability at the university, said location is key for the charging station, which might be used by university visitors, if the electric car market continues to expand.

“Definitely for those who would be coming to a hotel or conference center such as the Marcum, it makes good sense to have the charging station there,” Kline said.

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