BNL Employee Electric Vehicle Charging Program users group

["Van Buren, Gene" <gene AT bnl.gov>]

Hi, Venetios (and all)

First, welcome to the list. I know well that the EV user base at BNL is 
growing, and the number of outlets available to the EVCP is not growing (and 
that these outlet are all Level 1, low-power trickle charging with your own 
charging hardware). Unfortunately, there is no news to speak of since the 
EVCP program began a year and a half ago.


> On Nov 28, 2018, at 11:57 AM, Venetios Polychronakos 
> <Venetios.Polychronakos AT cern.ch> wrote:
> 
> New to the mailing list, sorry if this has been discussed. Is there
> any possibility for higher power stations?

Not without one of 4 things happening that I can think of...

1) The Lab eventually acquires its own vehicles that need high power charging 
stations, which it could let us use when its own vehicles aren't using them.

2) The LESC (Laboratory Electrical Safety Committee) overturning themselves 
on declaring the existing 220V outlets unsafe for untrained lab personnel and 
guests. They have been given this authority at BNL.

3) DOE making some kind of mandate allowing for residential/consumer grade 
(non-industrial) Level 2 charging stations to be installed for employee use 
and paid for by the Lab (currently no means for this).

4) There is the remote possibility we, the users, could pay for our own Level 
2 charging hardware that meets the LESC's safety criteria. There are several 
things to consider on this idea:
i) The Lab cannot pay for it.
ii) It cannot be a permanent fixture (i.e. we must be able to remove it at 
will, and the Lab needs to the ability to remove it upon a moment's notice 
for any reason). This implies considering carefully the security (against 
theft or damage) of such hardware.
iii) The LESC has to approve it being plugged into a high power source, which 
would likely conflict with (ii) because of the issue of who is allowed to 
plug or unplug it.


> Can the lab take advantage
> of the PSEG incentives offered to companies willing to do that?

Uncertain whether such incentives would be granted the Lab. For example, when 
asked, the state (NYSERDA) hesitated to help a federal facility on this topic 
before. Contingent upon points (1) or (3) above, anyhow.


> Is it
> likely the lab might do it?

Point (1) above is the most likely, in the time frame of (a few? several?) 
years.

> Of course we should be willing  to
> contribute as well. As the number of people increases this might not
> be too much.

I've thought about this before too. See point (3) above. Level 3 charging 
stations would certainly be out of our price range. How many vehicles per 
Level 2 facility is acceptable? Would 5 people be willing to share a single 
Level 2 unit and share the ~$500+ cost? What happens to these units the day 
that the Lab acquires high-power charging hardware of its own? Sell them on 
Craig's List and give investors their share of the proceeds back? I would be 
willing to pursue this if enough other people are as well.

I hope these responses help you understand the situation.

Thanks,
-Gene

p.s. My wife is being moved from Bldg. 1005 to Bldg. 515 next month. While 
this frees up the outlet at Bldg. 1005 from our Leaf, I'm unaware of any 
other users who need it out there. Worse, Bldg. 515 is in the middle of the 
already-congested heart of the BNL campus where we already have more users 
than outlets. Sigh.

p.p.s. There was a possible outlet on a pole at the Bldg. 134 parking lot. I 
tried to ask for this to be part of the EVCP two years ago, but was told "no" 
because the building was going to be demolished. I tried again a year ago 
because it didn't look like the building was going to be demolished any time 
soon and was told "no" again. Now, finally, the building has been demolished, 
and the pole and outlet are gone too. Another sigh.