Over the last year we at EV Support have seen many EVSE installations, and many prospective EVSE locations. There are quite a few more challenges to locating EV charging facilities than one might think, and most of them have to do with the cost of installing EVSE in the right place. Use the best parking spots for EVs and you risk incurring the ire of gas guzzlers who think that they ought to be able to park there.
Put the EVSE at the location closest to the electrical source and you may relegate EV parking to a space adjacent to the trash dumpster. If you need to cross a sidewalk or driving lane to get to that parking spot the cost goes up astronomically.
Given these challenges, the folks at Fred Meyer in Ballard, working with the Ecotality program, have definitely made the right choices for the long run. The two Blink EVSE that were recently installed are at the front of the store, but not closest to the entrance, are near an electrical room, but required removal and replacement of sections of sidewalk to be installed at the parking spots. They are adjacent to ADA parking spaces, as suggested by the accepted standards, but do not displace those spaces.
So, kudos to Fred Meyer for getting it right at the Ballard store. Their installation serves as an example to managers of other retail locations of what to do to make the adoption of this technology attractive and painless.
