Request for Rate Change at Electrical  Vehicle Charging Station

In 2014 the City of Ramsey received a grant for the Twin Cities Clean Cities Coalition in conjunction with the American Lung Association and the National Park Service to install an electric vehicle charging station along the Mississippi River to encourage electric vehicle use in the corridor.  The grant was for $10,333.00 and covered the purchase, installation and a 3 year maintenance agreement for the charging station, which is located on the first floor of the municipal parking ramp. The Public Works Committee recommended and the council approved charging $1.00/ hour to charge your vehicle.  The unit was installed in January of 2015 and to date has generated $19.87 in revenue. Staff has received a request from a Ramsey resident, who is also a frequent user of the NorthStar commuter train, asking if we could change how we charge to use the EV charging station.  Currently we charge $1.00 for every hour your vehicle is plugged into the station. The resident stated that she would use the EV station more, if the station was configured to stop charging the $1.00/hour once the vehicle was fully charged.  We use ChargePoint for our EV station provider and there is an option that would let us accomplish what the resident is requesting.

10-15 Minutes

 One way to look at our current policy of per hour pricing would be to consider our station as a parking meter. The driver pays the per-hour fee for as long as the vehicle is plugged in whether or not the vehicle is actually drawing power.  So, if a driver plugs in for 8 hours, and the car was fully charged after 5 hours, the driver still pays for 8 hours.  That’s how long the parking spot was occupied, and that’s how the fee was computed. Another alternative would be to lower the per hour pricing, but retain the per hour fee for when the vehicle is plugged into the station.  The third alternative would be to change the pricing model to retain the $1.00 per hour flat rate, but have the station shut off when the vehicle has fully charged.  So to summarize the pricing alternatives would be:
Alternative #1 retain our current policy of charging $1.00/hour for every hour  the vehicle is plugged into the station.
Alternative #2 reduce the per /hour pricing, but retain the policy of charging for every hour that a vehicle is plugged into the station.
Alternative #3 Retain the $1.00/hour charging rate, but change the software to shut off the charging station when the vehicle reaches full charge
 

N/A

Staff's recommendation would be alternative #2 - reduce the per /hour pricing, but retain the policy of charging for every hour that a vehicle is plugged into the station.

Motion to accept staffs recommendation of alternative # 2 or  or reject the staff recommendation and approve an alternative motion based on committee discussion