Main & William

Stopped. Watched. icon

Non-electric vehicles in charging stations makes it hard for actual electric vehicles to use the charging stations. There is a learning curve for new technology. [photo]

- observed by on

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Copyright 2012 The Ann Arbor Chronicle.

3 Comments

  1. By Vivienne Armentrout
    May 13, 2012 at 9:43 am | permalink

    How long does it take for a car to be charged at one of these stations?

    Signage and time limits might be helpful.

  2. By Linda Diane Feldt
    May 13, 2012 at 10:51 am | permalink

    Very true, Vivienne. It takes about 3-4 hours for the Volt, so an hour of charging would give back about 10-12 miles of range. Who is allowed to use what chargers isn’t exactly standardized yet. Some are pre-pay, some you have a card that unlocks the station. Some are free (a full charge is about a dollar) and some will charge a set up account. It is evolving. But we do need both consciousness of their existence, as well as some signage and enforcement so that they can be available for the intended use.

  3. By Dave Askins
    May 13, 2012 at 12:56 pm | permalink

    It looks like the charging stations at Main & William have become an annual May ritual!

    Here’s some additional background I tracked down last year about accessibility of those stations:

    MAY 12, 2011 at 11:13 am
    Some additional information from DTE to flesh out the “Yes, but …” answer to the question of whether those charging stations are available to the public.

    The lot is technically a private employee lot, but during the evening and on weekends, from a practical point of view the prohibition against parking there is not enforced. The stations themselves were installed by DTE through a grant from the Michigan Public Service Commission, which is different from the U.S. Department of Energy ChargePoint program — but the stations at Main & William are included as part of the various map databases for that program. To access the stations, you need a card issued by Coulomb, the company that manages the charging station network. To search for additional stations, visit this searchable map: [link to charging station map].

    DTE uses the charging stations for its own electric vehicles. If others from the public use the stations after hours, DTE does not now [as of May 2011] charge for the electricity. DTE regards the stations as more or less temporary and transitional.