I was saddened to read the author’s opinion that the city’s standard EV chargers are "virtually worthless” and “not very useful” because of electricity cost and weak charging. That opinion might mistakenly discourage some folks from getting a real benefit from the city’s chargers as they currently operate, especially for folks that own a plug-in hybrid vehicle.

The author mistakenly claims that EV charging at home costs only 1.5¢ per kilowatt hour compared to cost of 25¢ per kWh at Squalicum Park or Blodell Donovan’s city chargers, an increase of 1,500%. But in fact, household electricity in Bellingham really costs about 15¢ per kWh, ten times the amount the author states. So the 25¢ charged by the city is only a 67% increase over the household 15¢ per kilowatt hour, money used to amortize the charging equipment cost and pay for billing.

 

Second, just because higher current chargers can output more kilowatts, that doesn’t mean all cars can use all that power. We own and love a plug-in hybrid car. Its battery holds 14.4 kilowatt hours of electricity, enough for everyday in-town driving, We’ve used less than 10 gallons of gas the last 2000 miles, charging every night with regular 110 volt household electricity at about one kilowatt. 

 

Our car’s on-board charger is rated at 3.5 kilowatts. It can use only half the current output anyway from the city’s chargers that the author is complaining about but would still charge at 3 times as fast  as our household connection.

 

So don’t be discouraged from using the city’s chargers just because they could be better.