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San Antonio Installs Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

TexasBred

Well-known member
by Brian New / KENS 5
Bio | Email| Follow: @brian_new
kens5.com
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 10:00 PM

Updated Friday, May 4 at 7:13 AM
Related:
•Find a charging station with the ChargePoint Network

SAN ANTONIO -- Hundreds of thousands of tax dollars were spent to install electric vehicle charging stations across San Antonio.

Yet, the KENS 5 I-Team found almost no one is using them.

In December, city-owned CPS Energy began installing 120 public electric vehicle charging stations. The stations were paid for by a federal grant, with each charger costing taxpayers on average $5,000.

The stations were put in the parking lots of shopping malls, grocery stores, medical facilities, government buildings and movie theaters.

The set of four chargers behind the Santikos Palladium theater at The Rim have been used the most, according to numbers provided to the I-Team by CPS Energy.

In the first four months after being installed, the four chargers at the theater were used a combined 38 hours.

However, at other locations the chargers have yet to generate a spark.

At a third of the locations, the chargers were not used a single time in four months.

The set the chargers at the HEB on Zaramora Street, the Bexar County Juvenile Facility, the Northwest 14 Theater and the ones at both UTSA campuses were among those without a single customer.

During a four month span, each $5,000 charger was in use for an average of two hours. Most electric vehicles take twice as long to full charge.

"I'm actually shocked that there would be that many," said Michael Sullivan with Texans for Fiscal Responsibility.

Sullivan said the lack of use should come as no surprise because there are fewer electric cars in San Antonio -- approximately 100, according CPS Energy -- than the 120 electric charging stations.

"Here's a governmental entity using tax dollars to encourage people to buy something they are not really wanting to buy,” Sullivan said. “It's not proven in the market place."

Oscar Guajardo is one of an estimated 100 electric vehicle owners in San Antonio and the only one who owns an electric Porsche.

"I don't need a gas station for that vehicle at all," Guajardo said, pointing to his modified Porsche.

Guajardo said he believes many San Antonio drivers would like to own an electric car but have been apprehensive in large part because of the fear of be stranded with no place to plug in.

He said installing public charging stations will help alleviate that fear.

"I strongly believe if you want to make the change it requires government and entrepreneur and people to do it together," Guajardo said.

The chargers installed in San Antonio were a part of a $17 million federal study by the US Department of Energy.

Elaine Ball, the vice president of energy solutions at CPS Energy, said success of the program was never about usage but rather about the research.

"This is a nationwide study that the Department of Energy is studying to be able to anticipate the emerging electric vehicle market and to be able to understand where they need to put infrastructure," she said.

Sullivan said regardless of the reason for the chargers, it's a waste money because while it may be the future he said today it's just a drain on tax dollars.

“The idea that the government is going to do market research is a little silly," he said. "Let the market do market research."
 

Steve

Well-known member
anticipate the emerging electric vehicle market and to be able to understand where they need to put infrastructure," she said.

as with most wasteful government programs... they need to put them where the sun doesn't shine...
 

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