More and more cities are develop public EV charging plans and installing public chargers. Here are a few lessons that I learned from my amazing team in Austin, TX and other places. Here is a top ten, in no particular order:

What’d I forget?

(1/11)

1. A very simple design metric is maximum distance from any charger for all residents. E.g., “All residences shall be within X miles from a public charger.” (2/11)

2. Public chargers should be equipped with 110V outlets, and designed to facilitate charging by all kinds of electric transportation - bikes, scooters, etc. The goal is electric transportation, not just electric cars. (3/11)

3. A city can break down barriers to new charging stations by enacting code that requires all garages and parking lots to be “charger ready.” The utility or building owner can install “stubs” that can support chargers when garages is built/rebuilt, etc. (4/11)

4. Don’t obsess over where chargers go once distributed geographically. As usage changes, chargers move easily—provided you have the “stubs.”(5/11)

5. Public charging at the start is less about usage and more about awareness. Don’t box yourself in with unreasonable expectations about usage rates. People must know that charging is available before they start the process of deciding to acquire electric transportation. (6/11)

6. Public charging in low-income neighborhoods, and combined with low-income shared vehicles, is a great way to get clean transportation into urban neighborhoods, reduce local pollution, and support equitable access to sustainable transportation. (7/11)

7. Pay as you go is a pain in the ass. Customers should be able to buy quarterly fobs—passes—that work at every public charger. (8/11)

8. Electric transportation “mavens” are a great asset—there are people with electric vehicles who will try to use all the chargers, and will tell you when gas vehicles are blocking the spots, etc. Design a program that takes advantage of this citizen volunteering. (9/11)

9. Develop a program that supports public charging in private parking lots. They want the PR, and the usage, and those are going to be valuable locations for V2Grid operations in the future as people bring electricity in from the suburbs to share with the City. (10/11)

10. All electric vehicle charging must be 100% Green-e Certified Electricity. Who wants to spend all that money on a car just to fill it with crappy electricity? (11/11)