http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/14148883-172/city-tells-algiers-point-man City tells Algiers Point man to remove his electric vehicle charger, at least for now Nov. 30, 2015 JEFF ADELSON
[image / JOHN McCUSKER http://theadvocate.com/csp/mediapool/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?STREAMOID=K8yexkMnkEr9PW2IgniMFM$daE2N3K4ZzOUsqbU5sYvNw0W9RkE9a$aKw3f8f7$3WCsjLu883Ygn4B49Lvm9bPe2QeMKQdVeZmXF$9l$4uCZ8QDXhaHEp3rvzXRJFdy0KqPHLoMevcTLo3h8xh70Y6N_U_CryOsw6FTOdKL_jpQ-&CONTENTTYPE=image/jpeg Vlad Ghelase with his electric car and charging station in front of his Algiers Point home ] Red tape threatens to pull the plug on man’s electric car charging station After considering making the switch to an electric vehicle for years, Vlad Ghelase finally bought a used Nissan Leaf two weeks ago. Like many houses in older New Orleans neighborhoods, Ghelase’s lacks a driveway, so he couldn’t put the charging station for the car next to his Algiers Point house. Stretching a power cord across the sidewalk to the street could present problems. So he had an electrician apply for a permit to install a charging station next to the curb in front of his home. And that’s when he ran into a problem that New Orleans apparently hasn’t yet grappled with, but which is likely to become more common in the future: how to deal with charging stations on the public property that lines the city’s streets. Ghelase said he’s been told his charger is in violation of the law and he has to shut it down, giving him no way to keep his electric vehicle operating. City officials said they’re looking into what to do about both his charger and what they expect to be an increasing number of similar situations in coming years. In the meantime, however, Ghelase said he’s been frustrated trying to figure out how to get his charger into compliance with the law. “That’s the irony of it. We’re in a red state with a Republican Legislature that has incentives for electric vehicles, and the most progressive city in the state is actually blocking it,” he said. At least 11 people have received permits to put charging stations on their property, according to city records. But those were actually on their property, something that isn’t possible in areas of the city where driveways are scarce. From the city’s perspective, there are two separate problems with Ghelase’s set-up, Director of Safety and Permits Jared Munster said. Anyone who builds on city property must pay for it under rules designed to abide by the prohibition against using public property for private gain, he said. In addition, for safety reasons, the law prohibits allowing electrical wires to cross property lines, even from a privately owned lot to the public right of way in front of it, he said. Neither of those presents insurmountable problems, Munster said. The city’s Department of Property Maintenance could sign off on a lease of a portion of the right of way, he said, though Ghelase said when he tried to go that route he was told it wasn’t possible. As for the issue of crossing property lines, Munster said the city’s Board of Building Standards and Appeals could clear the way for Ghelase’s set-up. But in the meantime, Munster said, the department is asking Ghelase to disconnect his charging station. Officials from the Department of Safety and Permits and the Department of Property Maintenance plan to meet to discuss Ghelase’s specific issue and, potentially, the broader topic of how to permit such charging stations in the future. “It’s absolutely something we’re looking at,” Munster said. “This is going to become a more common issue. The more electric vehicles are on the road, the more it’s going to happen.” The issue has come up only once before, when a property owner Uptown requested a permit for a similar set-up. At the time, city officials did not realize that installation was going to be on public property and so issued a permit, though they’re planning to revisit the issue, Munster said. Another problem is that a charging station in the right of way next to the street would not give its owner a specific claim to the adjacent parking spot, and he couldn’t prevent others from using the charger. Ghelase said he’d already been working under that assumption, based on regulations in place in Berkeley, California. He handed out fliers based on Berkeley’s law to his neighbors, letting them know the charger didn’t give him any special rights and they could use both the spot and the station. Jeff Cantin, owner of Solar Alternatives, said his company has installed several chargers for residents and has not run into any problems. But with the price of electric vehicles coming down and interest in the technology rising, he said, New Orleans should look to other cities that have instituted a streamlined process to allow chargers in front of people’s homes. “Other cities around the country have figured this out,” Cantin said. “Fortunately, as usual, New Orleans is a little bit behind the times, and we can look to those examples.” [© 2015 Capital City Press] http://www.wwltv.com/story/news/local/investigations/david-hammer/2015/12/01/no-blocking-curbside-electric-car-charger/76635644/ N.O. blocking curbside electric car charger December 1, 2015 David Hammer NEW ORLEANS -- As a United Nations conference on climate change kicks off in Paris and world leaders call for lower carbon emissions worldwide, an Algiers Point resident is challenging the city of New Orleans to be more welcoming to zero-emissions electric cars. Vlad Ghelase purchased an electric Nissan Leaf three weeks ago. Like most homeowners in the older parts of the city, he has no off-street parking, so he ran an extension cord from his house to his car to charge it at night. A neighbor complained after tripping over the cord that ran across the sidewalk. So Ghelase hired an electrician to install a curbside charging station, which sits about 4 feet high on a wooden post and connects underground to his home’s electric meter. The Historic District Landmarks Commission approved the project, so Ghelase thought the electrician could proceed. Not so, says the city. An inspector saw the finished charging station and said it was a private improvement to public land, which is not permitted. The city ordered Ghelase to remove it by the end of this week or his electricity will be shut off. He said that’s a flimsy argument when sculptures on neutral grounds, bike racks on public sidewalks, newspaper boxes on street corners and cable connections on power poles are all private improvements on public property. “I think there’s a lot stronger public interest in allowing 80 percent of the city’s residents to own an electric car, more so than even getting Cox TV or looking at fish sculptures downtown,” Ghelase said. Ghelase and other alternative energy advocates say it’s shortsighted for a city that has signed on to the Resilient Cities initiative to drastically cut its emissions, one that is the most endangered when it comes to sea-level rise and other impacts of global warming. “I think Vlad’s running into what any folks doing a new technology in a new market like this run into, in that they get to where the city’s just never seen this before,” said Jeff Cantin, whose company Solar Alternatives has an electric vehicle fleet and installed seven charging stations around town. “Fortunately we can look to other cities that are a couple years ahead of us to look, what have they done?” Public charging stations are plentiful along the West Coast, and the city of Berkeley, Calif., has a detailed process for residents to install curbside chargers. In Philadelphia, residents and businesses can pay up to $550 to have the city parking authority install a charging unit for them and set aside an on-street parking spot. Landrieu’s press secretary, Hayne Rainey, said the city is looking into the issue, but current law does not allow residents to lease space on the curb for installing charging stations. The lag in New Orleans is surprising because it’s a progressive haven in a conservative state, Ghelase said, especially when it’s the Republican-controlled State Legislature that provided a 36-percent tax credit for the purchase of electric vehicles and charging stations. In fact, this year the Legislature voted to increase the tax credit to 50 percent for cars or systems purchased after June 30, 2018. “It’s ironic that the biggest tax credit in the country was coming from the Louisiana Legislature, one of the reddest in the country, and New Orleans, one of the most liberal cities in the country, has nothing to encourage solar panels” or electric vehicles, Ghelase said. “They’ve had 10 years since the electric cars came out and became mainstream to come up with a policy to allow private curbside electric charging installs,” Ghelase said. The community of electric vehicle owners is still relatively small in New Orleans. Jeff Cantin, owner of rooftop solar installer Solar Alternatives and head of the Gulf States Renewable Energy Industries Association, said there are about 100 in the city, but the demand for charging stations is growing. “There’s getting to be a few more in town, so you see the need for more as they get more vehicles and people are asking around,” Cantin said. Solar Alternatives has helped install seven charging stations around town that use 240 Volts, including two at each of the Whole Foods locations in the city. That type of charge takes up to four hours to fully charge a typical electric vehicle, while converting the charge from a regular household 120-Volt outlet can take 12 hours for a full charge. Solar Alternatives also helped get a donation from Nissan Motors to install the state’s only DC fast-charging station at the Rouse’s Market downtown. It can fully charge most electric cars – except the larger Teslas – in just 20 minutes. Those smaller cars can go about 80 miles on a full charge. So far, most of the publicly available charging stations are free to use, with businesses like Whole Foods and Rouse’s picking up the tab to provide the electricity. The basic etiquette is for the car owners to shop at the store while charging their vehicle there. “It’s interesting. You see a lot of the need for it when you go somewhere to charge and somebody’s there,” Cantin said. “You say, ‘Gee, I wish there was somewhere else I could go.’” That’s why privately installed charging stations on public property are so useful, Ghelase said. There’s a smart phone application called the PlugShare App where anyone can find area charging stations on a map, with information about each one. His is marked on the map with a note saying it’s free to anyone, as long as he isn’t using the charger at the moment. It only takes about $1.80 worth of electricity to fully charge the typical electric car, Ghelase said, but it doesn’t even cost him that much. He produces all of his household energy with his solar panels, and he said they paid for themselves years ago. While the state’s tax credit program for the nascent electric car industry is extremely generous, its progressive solar tax credit is far more popular, much more costly and therefore, about to come to an end. That’s why Ghelase says it’s high time for the city to step up to the plate. [© wwltv.com] ... http://nola.curbed.com/archives/2015/12/02/electric-car-charger-algiers-point.php City Says No to Algiers Point Man's Electric Car Charger December 2, 2015 For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Archaic-red-tape-threatens-New-Orleans-LA-home-EVSE-v-tp4679054.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
