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HomeMy WebLinkAbout15 - Electric Vehicle Charging Stations FeeCTY OF F NEWPORT BEACH " City Council Staff Report April 28, 2015 Agenda Item No. 15 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL FROM: Dan Matusiewicz, Finance Director— (949) 644 -3123, dmatusiewicz @newportbeachca.gov PREPARED BY: Evelyn Tseng, Revenue Manager PHONE: (949) 644 -3153 TITLE: Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Fee ABSTRACT: Currently, drivers can charge their electric vehicles at any of the three (3) Electric Vehicle ( "EV ") charging stations located at the Civic Center without payment. This agenda item proposes to charge EV drivers for only the electricity used, measured in kilowatt -hours (kWh), and the contractual cost of managing the EV charging stations — a total of $0.20 per kWh. RECOMMENDATION: a) Conduct public hearing; and b) Adopt Resolution No. 2015 -27, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Newport Beach Establishing a Fee for the Use of City Electric Vehicle Charging Stations. FUNDING REQUIREMENTS: For nearly the first two years of the Civic Center charging stations' operations, the City has funded the stations' charging cost instead of passing that charge along to the customer. The estimated annual cost of electricity used is about $4,700.00. The stations' non - energy operational costs are about $640.00 on an annual basis. Staff believes that it is time to appropriately allow the users of the charging stations to cover these costs (for a total of $5,340.00 per year). DISCUSSION: Backoround During the Civic Center Parking Garage construction, three (3) Level 1 and 2 EV charging stations were purchased and installed under Bomel Construction's parking structure sub - contract with CW Driver. On April 2013, the City opened an account with ChargePoint, Inc. to activate the charging stations. 15 -1 Currently, EV drivers can charge their vehicles without payment at those charging stations. The total cost of providing electricity to the charging stations from January 2014 through December 2014 was approximately $4,688.74 for 28,984 kWh of usage. In that same period, there were 3,118 charging sessions. The heaviest use is typically between Monday through Friday. Staff will bring forward a plan to add additional EV chargers at City facilities for Council consideration at a future date. The same fee approved for the Civic Center Parking Garage EV charging stations would most likely be used at any additional City EV charging stations. Staff recommends recovering the ChargePoint and electricity costs of providing EV charging. Electricity is approximately $0.162 /kWh. The ChargePoint service plan costs the City approximately $640.77 annually, with a processing fee of 10% for each transaction. In order to recover these costs, staff recommends imposing a fee of $0.20 /kWh at the EV charging stations. Because this is a cost recovery fee, the fee will be adjusted annually to reflect any changes to the fixed or variable electricity supply costs or changes to costs incurred by any vendor who maintains the chargers. How much does it cost elsewhere? ENTITY $ CHARGED Anaheim Free Cupertino Approx. $1.50 /hr Fashion Island $1.00 /hr; $1 minimum Huntington Beach $0.22 /kWh Irvine Company $0.75/hr, first 4 hours, then $3.00 to a max of $24 Laguna Beach $2.00 /hr (9/1 - 6/30, 4 hr maximum) $3.00 /hr (7/1 - 8/31, 4 hr maximum) Santa Barbara $0.25 /kWh Santa Monica Free Seal Beach $3.44/hr UC Irvine $2.50 /hr (noon — 6:00 p.m.) $1.75/hr (all other times) (4 hr maximum) What does this mean for the EV driver? If a car has a 35 kW battery, it would cost the driver $7.00 to fully charge that car pursuant to staffs recommended fee: 35 kW x $0.20 1kWh = $7.00 How much would that same driver pay at other charging stations, assuming it takes 5 hours to fully charge that same 35 kW battery? 15 -2 ENTITY $ CHARGED Anaheim $0.00 Cupertino $7.50 Fashion Island $5.00 Huntington Beach $7.70 Irvine Company $6.00 Laguna Beach $8.00 or $12.00, depending on season (but battery not fully charged) Santa Barbara $8.75 Santa Monica $0.00 Seal Beach $17.20 UC Irvine $10.00 (noon - 6:00 p.m.) $7.00 (all other times) (but battery not fully charged) Alternatives to the recommended fee Per hour rate (Cupertino, Fashion Island, Irvine Company, Laguna Beach, Seal Beach, and UC Irvine): A popular alternative is to impose an hourly fee. Using this methodology, the City may not be able to recover its costs. Vehicles with slower onboard chargers would pay the same hourly fee, but consume less electricity. If the City only had Level 2 chargers, the City would impose a fee of $1.32 /hour. (EV chargers at Level 2 can charge at a maximum rate of approximately 6.6 kWh. (6.6 kWh x $0.20 /kWh = $1.32 /hour.) Although the vast majority of EV users use Level 2 chargers, each of the City's EV charging stations also contains a Level 1 charger. At $1.32 /hour, the Level 1 charger would pay more than the City's cost. (ChargePoint does not allow for imposing one rate for Level 1 and a different rate for Level 2.) In order not to over - recover from the Level 1 driver, the fee would be $0.40 /hour. (EV chargers at Level 1 can charge at a maximum rate of 2 kWh. 2 kWh x $0.20 /kWh = $0.40 /hour.) By way of comparison, that same 35 kW car above, which would have paid $7.00 on a per kWh rate, would pay (assuming it takes 5 hours to fully charge the car) only $2 at the $0.40 /hour rate, but should have paid $6.60 at the $1.32 /hour rate for the City to recover its costs. Tiered rates (Irvine Company) Tiered rates encourage drivers to move their cars from the charging stations after a certain amount of time. One possibility would be to impose a fee of $0.40 /hour (City's cost at Level 1) for the first three (3) hours, then a much higher hourly rate thereafter (such as the Irvine Company's $3.00s /hour). The higher hourly rate after the first three (3) hours would be a parking rate not based on cost -of- services. Limit charge time (Laguna Beach and UC Irvine) Limiting the charge time also encourages drivers to move their cars after a certain amount of time. Here, the City could impose a kWh or hourly fee, but at the end of three (3) hours, the driver would be required to move her car or risk citation. The driver might not be able to fully charge her car, but hopefully will have enough charge to get to her next destination. Include staff time and EV charger cost The recommended kWh rate does not include City staff administration time or the cost of the EV chargers. At this time, staff recommends excluding these elements in order to encourage EV use and keep the EV charger fee in line with neighboring EV charger fees. 15 -3 Continue to provide free EV charging In order to promote EV use, the City could continue to offer free EV charging at the Civic Center location. The fiscal impact would be approximately $5,329.51/year ($4,688.74 for electricity and $640.77 for ChargePoint fees). ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: This action is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act ( "CEQA ") pursuant to Sections 15060 (c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment) and 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378) of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it has no potential for resulting in physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly. NOTICING: The agenda item has been noticed according to the Brown Act (72 hours in advance of the meeting at which the City Council considers the item). ATTACHMENTS: Description Attachment A - Resolution Establishing a Fee Attachment B - Fee Calculation 15 -4 ATTACHMENT A RESOLUTION NO. 2015 -27 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH ESTABLISHING A FEE FOR THE USE OF CITY ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATIONS WHEREAS, the City of Newport Beach ( "City ") currently has three (3) Level 1 and Level 2 Electric Vehicle ( "EV ") charging stations located at the Civic Center Parking Garage and may install additional EV charging stations throughout the City in the future; WHEREAS, EV drivers currently charge their vehicles at the City's charging stations without payment; WHEREAS, the City provides the electricity and ChargePoint, Inc. ( "ChargePoint ") provides the subscription plans and grid network management to the EV charging stations; and WHEREAS, the City desires to pass the cost of electricity and the ChargePoint service plan to the EV charging station user. NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Newport Beach hereby resolves as follows: Section 1: The City Council finds and determines that the City's cost of providing EV charging stations is currently $0.20 /kWh, which includes the cost of electricity and ChargePoint's service fee. Section 2: The City Council hereby sets the fee for charging at the City's EV charging station at $0.20 /kWh, which fee shall be paid by the user of the EV charging station. Section 3: The City Council hereby authorizes staff to establish annual adjustments to the fee for charging at the City's EV charging stations based on actual fixed or variable rate electricity supply costs or changes to any costs incurred by any vendor who maintains the chargers in the future. Section 4: The City Council finds the establishment of EV charging station rates is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act ( "CEQA ") pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment) and 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378) of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3. The resolution does not authorize development and only establishes the charging fee for existing EV charging stations. Section 5: The recitals provided in this resolution are true and correct and are hereby incorporated into the substantive portion of this resolution. 15 -5 ATTACHMENT A Section 6: This Resolution shall take effect immediately upon its adoption by the City Council and the City Clerk shall certify the vote adopting the resolution. Adopted this 28th day of April, 2015. Edward D. Selich Mayor ATTEST: Leilani I. Brown City Clerk 15 -6 ATTACHMENT B Fee Calculation 15 -7 Attachment "B" Electricity: $0.162 /kWh Total charges for Civic Center EV use in 2014: $4,688.74 Total Civic Center EV charging station kWh usage in 2014: 28,984 kWh $4,688.74/28,984 kWh = $0.162 /kWh ChargePoint Plan Fee: $0.022 /kWh ChargePoint Plan Fee: $640.77 (annual fee for three EV stations) Total EV charging station kWh usage for 2014: 28,984 kWh $640.77/28,984 = $0.022 /kWh ChargePoint Processing Fee: $0.018 /kWh ChargePoint Processing Fee: 10% of the total session amount. 10% (.162 +.022) _ $0.018 /kWh TOTAL FEE: $0.20 /kWh The final fee amount would be: $0.162 + $0.022 + $0.018 = $0.202 /kWh 15 -8