COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA JOINT COMMITTEES ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES AND THE CREATIVE/INNOVATIVE ECONOMY Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Friday, April 26, 2024 3:00 p.m. PRESENT: COUNCILMEMBER NINA AHMAD COUNCILMEMBER CINDY BASS COUNCILMEMBER MICHAEL DRISCOLL COUNCILMEMBER JAMIE GAUTHIER COUNCILMEMBER JIM HARRITY COUNCILMEMBER NICOLAS O'ROURKE COUNCILMEMBER MARK SQUILLA RESOLUTION 240172 - - 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172.
Good afternoon, everyone. I now note that the hour has come, and this hearing is called to order. This is the public hearing of the Joint City Council Committees on The Environment & Global Opportunities and the Creative/Innovative Economy. The purpose of this public hearing is to hear testimony on Resolution No. 240172. Ms. Jones, would you please call the roll?
Present. Thank you, Ms. Jones. Joining us are all of the people just, just mentioned. Thank you. I know for the record that a quorum of this committee is present, and the hearing is called to order. At this point, I will pitch it to the chair of the 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. Creative and Innovative Economy Committee for any opening remarks.
I will pass it over to the vice chair for any opening remarks.
Thank you so much. First of all I -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Is your mic on?
Yeah. I ask -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (indiscernible) microphone.
I did. Okay. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for being here at 3 o'clock on Friday. And I've already profusely apologized to my colleagues that I know this is a lot of late afternoon intellectual conversations, and I appreciate that they're here and appreciate all of you for caring enough about this issue. Today we are talking about, as Council Chair Gauthier just said, it is a joint hearing regarding the reliability and servicing of publicly accessible electric vehicle charging stations in the city of Philadelphia. I just 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. want to acknowledge the presence of my colleague, my -- Councilmember Driscoll is here. And so the reason we are here is climate change is -- we are in a crisis around climate. And in order for us to address this, we have a 2050 plan for our carbon emission. We are a car-centric country, we are a car-centric city. Much as we want to make sure people are walking and biking, we are going to drive. And to that end, we might as well drive in things that are not polluting our environment. And we have that option. We have EV cars, and we have a great initiative out of the federal government to really drive us. They have given us rebates on buying the cars, they are pumping a lot of resources into our charging infrastructure and just promoting that we move in that direction. I just want to give you context of, I'm someone who comes -- I'm an immigrant from a small country called Bangladesh. And the reason why this is so critical is because it's very, very real to me. As we speak today, sitting here, there are parts of this low-lying country 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. that is going under. The sea level is rising, and people are losing land where they live on, where they farm on, and they're literally becoming, you know, climate refugees. And so we have a responsibility in this first world that we live in, that has participated and contributed to this climate crisis in a great way. We have a responsibility to do something about that, and we can, we have the tools to do that. So that's the frame of why it's so -- why is this so emerged -- such an emergent issue that we must get going on this. And I know our Council here is very committed to making progress on this matter, which is why we have Councilman Squilla here, too, this afternoon. So we have invited a lot of folks to testify, and we are going to hear in different segments, but one of the reasons that is also very important is that we are seeing, while EVs are being, you know, promoted, the use of EVs are getting reduced because the user experience is not good. And by that, I mean people don't feel they can rely on making sure their cars are -- they're going to be 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. able to charge their cars, that they're going to be able to go from A to B, and they're going to be able to participate on the roads in a way that makes them safe. So when we think about user experience, that's what's going to drive making EVs an everyday thing in, in this country. And, you know, the issue around putting the cart before the horse is we're putting a lot of, you know, money down this, this way, but we're not looking at the details. The devil is in the details. So I, full disclosure, have a EV, a fully electric vehicle, and I don't drive it because I'm nervous about where I'm going to charge it. That I'm going to pull up to a, a place where there's supposed to be five chargers, only one is working, and there's a long line. We've been in places where suddenly something goes wrong and there's no way to turn. You just have somebody to call online, and they will call -- ping somebody, and they will ping somebody, but no one shows up to service that, that charging station. So it's a reality. And we have seen that Ford actually has cut back on 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. their production of EVs. They're going the way of hybrids. That's the wrong direction.
We're moving in the wrong direction. So here in Philadelphia, it would be great if we were the premier city in the country that solve this issue, that we could show that we can reach our 2050 goals and that we can do that by really making sure we all participate in this transformation and have a reliable charging infrastructure that people can depend on. And that's why we're having this hearing. So if there's -- I'll pass it back to our chair here for any further comments. Oh, sorry. One other thing I wanted --
-- to underscore. This is not just about the environment. This is also about workforce development. Because what we are going to discuss today is that not only do we have to know how to install the charging units, we also know -- need to know how to maintain and service them. Right now we have investment in how to learn how to, you know, install charging stations, but we haven't done 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. the servicing and maintenance part. That's a whole job category. I can see, as a small business owner myself, I can see this can be a real opportunity for small business to --businesses to thrive, work as a third party to the companies that install the charging stations, work with them to be that mobile unit. Maybe we have, you know, within a 10-minute radius, we have a mobile unit that responds as soon as there's a problem in a charging station. This -- you know, we have a great union, IBEW, who has been actually training people. We just -- they just got a grant that is for training people to learn how to do the installation. We can -- those are the questions we want to ask them, what will it take to learn how to maintain them and how do we get a workforce ready in -- those people who would be interested in doing that and then help them become a business, if that is the path we'll go for. But this is all about hearing today --
-- what the 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. status is, what the projection is, and how do we get there. So thank you, Council Chair. I mean --
Thank you so much, Councilmember. And I want to note for the record that Councilmember Mike Driscoll is present, as well as Councilmember Mark Squilla. And I'll pass it on to Councilmember Bass for opening comments.
Thank you. I, I just wanted to take a moment and thank the sponsor of the resolution to have a conversation on this very, very, very important conversation. It's absolutely clear that the direction that we're in, that we're heading in is not enough. We're not doing nearly what we need to do and that, you know, we, we really are in trouble. And, you know, for what we can do as the city to be a model on a nationwide basis, I think that that is what we really need to dig deep and focus in on because we really have to 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. just change the way we live. There's no question about it. I remember in 2020 when the pandemic hit, and I had been in Ocean City, Maryland, with my family. And one of the things that I noticed that summer is that the water, and we go there on a regular basis, but the water, which was usually, you know, like shore water, you know, kind of brown, was suddenly, you know, like it looked a little more to the, you know, like green. Like, you know, more desirable for you to want to touch and to get into, and that was because there was less pollution. There was less pollution. Things slowed down. And, you know, listen, I understand that we are a culture of folks who are on the go go go constantly, but there's a lesson to be learned about slowing down or changing the direction of the way that we actually operate. So I'm unable able to stay for the hearing, but I'm really looking forward to the end results and putting together some legislation to make our laws here in the city of Philadelphia much stronger and the services that we offer so that 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. charging is much more readily accessible here in the city of Philadelphia. You know, I'm all in. I'm all for it. So I'm looking forward to working with this committee on those issues. And I'll -- I thank you for your time. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilmember Bass. And I want to add my thanks to Councilmember Ahmad for sponsoring the legislation for this hearing. You know, I think this is an incredibly important topic --
-- not just in regards to the city helping residents to, you know, you know, to more easily purchase EV vehicles or EVs and, and be able to access charging stations, but also for the city to be a model through --
I'll tell you a story, and that's, you know, during the FY 22 budget year, I was pushing my JUSTSERVICESPHL 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. campaign supported by a majority of council. And the idea of the campaign was to improve quality of life services and to direct them specifically towards the blocks most struggling with gun violence. And one of the areas that we were focused on was increasing the capacity of L&I to be able to handle blighted properties and nuisance businesses that was -- that were drawing gun violence. And we heard from L&I that they were having a really hard time retaining field inspectors. And so we were thinking through what we could do to make this job more attractive. And what we heard was that one of the reasons that the job is unattractive is that they have to use their personal vehicles to do a very unpleasant job. And that that was a drawback for many people. And so that budget year, we winded up winning, I think, $3.1 million for all of the field inspectors to get electric vehicles, city vehicles, and we were very excited about that. But we later came to learn that even though we had purchased these amazing EVs, there was 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. nowhere for them to be charged. So not only do we not have enough public charging stations, so we don't have municipal -- enough municipal --
-- facilities that offer charging stations for the electric vehicles that we're buying as a city. And so we had our field inspectors trying to do their work, but also competing with residents to find and use public charging stations and waiting in very long lines.
And so I think we have a lot of work to do as a city for our residents, but we also have a lot to -- of work to do to be a good model for how we combat, you know, climate change and expand even our employees' access to charging stations.
So thank you, thank you, thank you, for the conversation. And with that, Ms. Jones, will you now read the title of the resolution?
Resolution 240172, 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. authorizing the committees on the Environment & Global Opportunities and The Creative/Innovative Economy to hold joint hearings regarding the reliability and servicing of publicly accessible electric vehicle charging stations in the city of Philadelphia.
The clerk will please call the first panel of witnesses to testify on the resolution.
The first panel includes Anna Kelly, senior policy advisor for EV and parking from the Office of Transportation Infrastructure & Sustainability, as well as Christopher Puchalsky, PhD, director of policy and strategic initiatives from the Office of Transportation Infrastructure & Sustainability, and Lily Reynolds, director of federal infrastructure strategy from the Office of Transportation Infrastructure & Sustainability, who are available for questions.
Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony. 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172.
Good afternoon, Chairperson Gauthier, Chairperson O'Rourke, and members of the committees on the Environment and on Global Opportunities and the Creative and Innovative Economy. My name is Anna Kelly and I'm the senior policy advisor for electric vehicles and parking with the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems, in the Office of Multimodal Planning. I'm here today with my colleague, Christopher Puchalsky, director of policy and strategic initiatives with OTIS. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to testify on Resolution No. 16 240172, introduced by Councilmember Ahmad regarding publicly available electric vehicle infrastructure. This is an essential moment to ensure an equitable EV transition in the city which can propel us towards a cleaner and greener Philadelphia with economic opportunity for all. EVs are a key tool in fighting climate change as they produce less than a quarter of the greenhouse gas emissions per mile as compared to 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. a gas vehicle. Additionally, the development of a network of charging stations can create high quality jobs for Philadelphians through the installation, operations, and maintenance of this green infrastructure. I want to start with some statistics on electric vehicles in Philadelphia and the infrastructure that supports them. 3 percent of all passenger vehicles registered in Philadelphia. Since PennDOT's last count in September, there are about 1000 additional EVs registered in the city. For reference, nationwide registrations are also around 1 percent, but the Biden administration has set a goal of having 50 percent of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030. EV registration percentages have already -- are already much higher in some early adoption cities like San Francisco and Boston. Studies have shown that one of the biggest barriers to EV uptake is the availability and perceived availability of charging infrastructure. Many Philadelphians live in 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. multifamily housing developments or row homes that do not have garages or parking spaces to support residential charging. This means that there's an increased need for publicly available charging infrastructure, and acting now to expand this infrastructure can ensure equitable access to charging in the future, rather than just access for areas that the private sector chooses to support. There are two types of chargers that are typically used for public charging infrastructure, Level chargers, which can fully charge a vehicle within to 10 hours, and direct current fast chargers, which are sometimes called Level 3 chargers, which fully charge vehicles within minutes to an hour. 18 Currently, there are 330 Level 2 and 19 109 Level 3 public charging stations in the city. 20 I'll also note that most chargers are concentrated around Center City, leaving large gaps in other sections of the city. According to projections generated through tools from the US Department of Energy, to support a scenario in which half of the public -- of the passenger 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. vehicles in the region are EVs, Philadelphia will need around 24,000 public Level 2 charging ports and almost 1500 Level 3 charging ports to support public charging needs. There have been past efforts to provide EV charging throughout the city. In 2012, legislation was passed authorizing a program to allow private citizens to install EV charging stations curbside in front of their homes, reserving that parking space for charging their vehicle. After a task force met in 2018 found that this program was leading to parking conflicts, the program was amended. Since then, citizens can still install chargers in front of their homes, but the spot is not reserved for the resident. The space is now available for EV parking only overnight, with non-electric vehicles allowed to park for two hours at a time throughout the day.
The zoning code also has provisions requiring EV readiness in around 5 percent of new residential parking lots, though current code does not require installation of chargers, just 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. the wiring that supports them. Now I want to discuss work that is currently underway to advance publicly available electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Philadelphia. In fall of last year, the city's Office of Innovation and Technology's, Smart Cities team, led by Director Akshay Malik, led a task force to develop an EV transition strategy for Philadelphia, and we're currently underway, with the first task laid out in that document, of forming a governance committee made up of decision makers from relevant agencies in the city to guide the development of EV policies. Our office has also developed a partnership with the Philadelphia Parking Authority to build out electric vehicle charging in our municipal parking lots through federal grant programs. Just a couple of weeks ago, we received the fantastic news that PPA received a competitive grant award of over $815,000 through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program administered by PennDOT. This grant will fund the installation of two direct current charging stations that support four ports for EV 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. fast charging in the 6th and Marshall Street community parking lot. Since then, we've also submitted a grant application for build-out of 5 additional chargers in PPA community parking 6 lots. 7 There's plenty of additional funding 8 available for the -- from the federal government 9 to build out EV charging infrastructure, and 10 we've developed a regional working group that 11 includes partners such as PECO, DVRPC, PennDOT 12 and the airport to strategize around these grant 13 opportunities. 47 million grant to 16 launch Plug In Philly, which Councilmember Ahmad 17 mentioned earlier, a workforce development pilot 18 program that will recruit and train diverse 19 Philadelphians for careers in electric vehicle 20 supply equipment. Over two years, 45 people will 21 participate in Plug In Philly's pre- 22 apprenticeship program, with OTIS leading the 23 charge and in partnership with the International 24 Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 and 25 their training arm, ATEI, Plug In Philly will 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. prepare workers for EV careers. The program will give access to supportive services like training, stipends, transportation, and childcare to support participant retention and success. We've also been looking to other cities for inspiration. Cities like New York, Boston, Atlanta, and Seattle. Many of these cities have instituted increased requirements in their zoning codes to require installation of EV chargers in new parking lots, and Boston is working on rolling out EV charging curbside in neighborhoods. Many cities have implemented charging programs that allow residents to charge at libraries, recreation centers, other public spaces. We're looking closely at the early lessons from these ventures. In conclusion, the city of Philadelphia has the opportunity to expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure and support a transition that is equitable and leads to high quality jobs for Philadelphians. Our approach aims to generate reliable public charging infrastructure that residents can see, touch, and feel built by 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. Philadelphians and for Philadelphians. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. And I'd be happy to take any questions at this time.
Mr. Puchalsky, please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Hi. Christopher Puchalsky, director of policy and strategic initiatives at OTIS. I don't have any additional testimony.
Okay. Great. Are there any questions for this panel by members of the committee? Go ahead.
I do have a few questions for OTIS. Is Chris testifying? Is Chris going to be testifying?
Okay. I wanted to thank you so much for that comprehensive testimony, especially around the data about, 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. obviously you've been thinking and strategizing, and I think having a strategic plan of what is the need, what is the availability, where will we have them and then have our public know that, right? One of our biggest issues I'm finding in just working in the city is that communication is problematic. Not because we don't want people to know, but people are inundated with so many sources of information that we have to be redundant in how we put out our information. Multiple channels, multiple platforms. And if we're going to move this needle, we have to have people participate in the plan that you're putting out. I had a question about who is responsible for maintenance of publicly owned chargers, include cleaning and vandalism? And the second part is, are we thinking about any kind of protection of these chargers? Because heat is a real issue and -- as is cold. As you know, in Chicago during this winter, cars came to a standstill because the chargers were not working. 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. So do we envision any kind of sort of space where these chargers are somewhat protected and there's some sense of lighting and security. Because I've drove -- driven up and there's like, in the middle of nowhere, there's a charger sitting, there's no one around. It's nighttime. I'm not stand -- stopping there, right? So how are we -- that's part of the user experience. So if you could address that.
Yeah, absolutely. So right now, the, the maintenance and operations is on the, the vendor or whoever owns the charger. As I mentioned, PPA just won this award for installing fast chargers in a community parking lot. So that's kind of our -- the, you know, the first foray into, you know, PPA will be working with a vendor to make sure the operations and maintenance of that charger happen. So that's sort of the new -- a new frontier. I will say, you know, with the programs coming down from the Biden administration, there's a couple interesting things to note. They are saying for any charger funded with federal funding, there needs to be a 97 percent 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. uptime, and there needs to be a certain standard of operations and maintenance that are in place. So I'm really hopeful that that's going to push a lot of vendors to be able to deliver on those high uptimes. Yeah.
Oh, okay. I, I don't mean to hog the whole conversation.
Okay. So you, you mentioned, you know, from what I understand and from the work my staff has done, particularly Kira Halma. Is she here? Where's Kira?
Okay. I want to just acknowledge her and Sarah and Dwayne for doing a lot of the legwork to get us to this point, to do this hearing. And I -- my, my question is that when we're thinking about, you know, having this, the licensing for getting a charger, when a company comes, I believe the L&I has to issue a license, and they have to provide that they're using a licensed electrician to 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. install the charger. And then if they're using public space, how is that handled? That -- the fact that they're going to use a public land to put that. Is there a lease agreement and is it a yearly? How does that work?
Yeah. So right now, if you want to install a charger curbside in the, what we call the furniture zone, that's the part right next to the curb, you do have to get an electrical permit. Obviously, these are in the public right of way, so we want them to be safe, and there's definitely been some instances where they haven't been installed safely. In other cities, we see instances where people drag an extension cord across the sidewalk. That's not safe. We don't -- we, we'd like to not have that. It's both a tripping hazard and an electrical hazard. It's -- the cord's not made to be stepped on a thousand times a day. So we want these to be safe. I'm not aware of any instances, so far, where somebody has wanted to install them on the public land, though. Not just the public right of way curbside in front of their own home, but 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. actual public land.
And that, that would maybe be a question we can take back to L&I.
Okay. So in other words, we're leaving it up to the, the company in terms of what happens past being licensed to have an electrician install it. Is there -- what is the oversight of that process from L&I? Like, do we have any -- is there a yearly checking on how this unit is doing, or what is the process of follow through on this once it's been installed?
Yeah, I, I, I'm not aware of regular inspection. I think maybe it's useful to, to break these up into a few different categories. I think there's the typical curbside installation that's in front of someone's home. It's, it's not operated by any of these charging companies. It's just their own personal charger. They bought it from somewhere --
-- hired an electrician, and it's theirs. I'm, I'm fairly 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. certain there's not a regular inspection on that, but I -- we can find out for sure. And then there's the, the, the, the types of things we find in parking lots. So --
-- I, I go to the Home Depot in South Philly, sometimes, you know, across, there's in those parking lots, you know, you know, around the 25th and Oregon area there's some charging stations there. There's, you know, around the IKEA, there's lots of charging stations. Maybe we'll have to get back to you on, on those kind of more, more commercial. Not just for personal use, but the commercial what the --
-- stations on their property. But because those are private property, that's not in your jurisdiction to kind of see. But I, I'm really getting at, regardless of where, where you install it, should we have some guidelines around what that installation 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. looks like and what that maintenance piece looks like, whether it's on private property or it's on, on, you know, the curbside issues. And if we were to look at other spaces, like the airport is looking to put in a whole bunch of chargers, if PPA is going to do it, what are -- what is the requirement around of the company when they put that in? And, and when I describe the scenario of potentially having a workforce development component of training people to do the maintenance and create businesses out of that, how would you envision them interacting? And are we requiring our charging companies to contract with somebody or they provide it themselves? And do we have evidence of them providing that sort of maintenance and servicing? I don't see anything in the code that requires any of this. If -- I'm not sure. But am I correct in that assumption?
Yeah, I'm, I'm not aware of anything. And I -- so Anna mentioned in her testimony that, or in her, her comments that the federal guidelines for the new grant programs 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. have a 97 percent uptime requirement. I think what's left unsaid there is that requirement is put in because the uptime currently we've seen in the field is, is drastically lower than that, some 80 percent or lower. I think some of those could be flagged with the -- if the -- if the charger knows it's not working, that's one set of problems, and the company can send somebody out. You know, talking to my colleague Akshay Malik, who's here today, you know, he pointed out some miscreant can put a piece of bubble gum --
-- in the charger and then you -- not only does it not work, but you don't know it doesn't work until someone tries to use the thing. So it, it -- it's, it's definitely in the public interest that there is a high uptime rate, whether that is in -- whether the equipment is paid for by federal funds and that's a federal requirement or it's a private investment and there -- doesn't have the requirement. I, I think that's something we'll have to look into and get back to you, but I certainly think it's, it's an important topic. 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172.
-- that's working. Okay. Just wanted to add as well. I mentioned the governance committee, first meeting of which is, is next week, and we've included agencies from across the city government, including L&I, in that governance committee. So we're really hopeful that that governance committee can serve as a venue for these kinds of conversations around how we think about that moving forward, especially when thinking about charging on public property.
Right. I have another question. So, you know, the -- we're going to have these vehicles, and in terms of environmental justice, what are -- what is being done to improve accessibility and ensure that, you know, lower income communities are not being left behind with these effects of carbon dioxide emissions? Where are we on that? What, what sort of efforts are we making to have equity on this issue? 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172.
So, so I think what we see, so far it's mostly been up to the private sector. And what we've seen is that when we've mostly left it up to the private sector, we, we don't have an equitable distribution of charging infrastructure in this city. So that if you're live in Center City or certain other neighborhoods, you've got a lot of choices. Whereas if maybe you live in North Philly, your choices are much sparse. So what, you know, there's -- it's a -- it's a problem that remains to be solved yet. But, but what we've done so far is that we've tried to, when we have grant applications, we're looking at that to try to install. So we, we had a application. It was led by Akshay Malik for the CFI program, and we, we, we, we, we chose locations for that grant that hit those areas that are low income, tend to be higher minority populations around rec centers and other public facilities where we could install charging infrastructure to, to, to fill some of the gap that the -- that the private sector miss. 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. We didn't get that, but we are, like anytime we don't win a grant, we, we learn, we get a debrief, and then when we -- comes time to submit again, we hopefully submit a better thing. But that is going to be part of our grant strategy to, to make sure that we're, we're filling some gaps in the short-term and then looking for other policies to incentivize the private sector to install more charging in neighborhoods, whether that's something at a rec center or, I think you've mentioned yourself, a service station model. How can we get the private sector to install, you know, just like you have gas stations in --
-- every neighborhood in the city, how can we get to the private sector to install EV charging in every neighborhood in the city?
Oh, just also wanted to mention that the grant application I mentioned for additional chargers in PPA community lots. 24 One thing that's really wonderful about the PPA 25 community lots is they're pretty equally 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. distributed throughout the city, and they actually fill in a lot of the gaps that we're seeing and where public charging and infrastructure is available. So we have submitted in that grant for the additional chargers, we specifically 8 looked at those Justice40 neighborhoods as the -- 9 Biden administration requests for those -- for 10 those grants. And, and that's what we applied 11 for. 12
And so that 13 incentive could come from the federal government 14 itself, right? 15
When they are 17 giving any kind of public money to the private 18 sector to incentivize this, and that's the 19 advocacy we can go do from the ground up. To 20 say, "When you're doing that, what else are you 21 asking for?" When, when we want equity included 22 in that process. Doing equity doesn't mean we 23 can't be a profitable business. I want to 24 underscore that, that I think sometimes people 25 think those are mutually exclusive and they're 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. not. So I think we have to find out ways to make them profitable for the private sector, at the same time, making sure that equity is a priority in how we do that. Because money from a low-income person is green as the money from, you know, someone with a high income is also green. It has the same buying power, right? So we need to really, as a city, as a government, I think we need to start thinking of how we bring those forward and work with the federal government because there's so much money being put into this. And that was what worries me sometimes, that it is a lot of money and it's sort of hope it's not willy-nilly, you know. We, we saw this in the pandemic where so much money came down and a lot of -- we didn't have infrastructure, financial infrastructure to account for all of that and led to a lot of issues. So, lessons learned. Let's apply them here. So, and the last question I have is on the status of the Plug In Philly. I know it's very new. Do you have any sense of enrollment? 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. Do you know what we can project out of what's happening there?
We can definitely get back to you on that. Lily Reynolds, the director of federal infrastructure strategies, is leading that effort, and I know that they're underway. Do you have any --
Councilmember O'Rourke. And then Councilmember Driscoll.
Some of this you've actually, actually covered in your -- in 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. your testimony, but I kind of wanted to get more out of you from it, just if you could speak to some of -- some of it. I think you stated that the majority of the, the EV stations right now in the city are located here in Center City, but that you were projecting to see a, a development of them through PPA at all of their lots across the city through some federal dollars. Can you talk again about the general -- about other placements beyond those two spaces where you know the charging stations are right now? Kind of like, where are the other rare spots where folks might be able to find them?
Sure. So I think that I have a map that I included in my supplemental testimony that shows where the chargers are currently located. So right now, they're pretty concentrated in Center City. And then there are some publicly available chargers that are also in northwest area, but pretty, pretty concentrated in Center City right now in terms of publicly available.
Got you. And I'm assuming because these things -- these were 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. private chargers you're talking about that were developed in, like Northwest or in these other, other ones, these are privately owned charging stations -- charging stations?
-- combination of the curbside charging program. So individuals who installed them on their curbside to charge their own private vehicles and then chargers owned by private companies that are publicly accessible.
Okay. This may not be a relevant question. What criteria does the city use to decide, or will it decide to where to locate the new EV charging stations going -- coming forward?
Yeah, that's a fantastic question. So that is another really important question that we're hoping to address in this governance committee, is a really, you know, comprehensive set of guidelines for if, you know, a vendor is to come to the city and say, "We want to install a charger here, or we want to install," you know, we, we want to make sure that 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. we have a comprehensive look at the city, and, and we can go through a checklist and say, like, "This is our siting criteria and this is how we want to do it."
So we need access to charging stations for electrical vehicles as we make this transition. And also, I, I recognize the need for even greener options for transit to meet our, our carbon emission goals. How is OTIS thinking about locating charging stations? So once you come to those meetings and you start working out the criteria. So that they're useful for EV drivers, but also don't discourage even greener transportation options, like walking, like bicycling, like public transit. For example, can charging stations be placed strategically to even encourage these greener options as connections to the final destination? And I want to ask it now because the infrastructure is not completely built out, and it would be nice to begin with the mindset towards, how can we accommodate this that we 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. need, but also be mindful that we want to generate, you know, non-car ways of, of getting around?
Yeah. I think that's a great question. I think you've kind of framed it that EV charging, and I think even Councilmember Ahmad framed it, that it's, it's part -- it's part of a transportation strategy. We, we're an autocentric city, we're an autocentric country. We can't change that. It's -- we should have the driving that people do the cleanest way possible. But we also need to make transit, walking, and biking safe, affordable, convenient for people. So we've got to do both of those things. That's the chew gum and walk at the same time. It's a great -- I don't think we've got it all figured out, it's a great question, but I know people have two things. People have talked about this idea of mobility hubs, where you'd have transit, you'd have bike share, and you'd have some electric vehicle charging. I think there's probably places that make sense, places where it doesn't make sense. I think the -- one of the problems is 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. having so much of the electrical vehicle charging in Center City, it's, it's not just that it's, that, that, you know, tends to be the wealthiest part of the city, but it's, it's also the, the, the, the most rich in terms of being able to walk, bike, and take transit. So that's where I think it makes sense that you, you, you have -- you try to concentrate some of your electric vehicle charging in some of the places where it is more natural for people to drive. So Roosevelt Boulevard is a great case. It's, it's, you know, there's a lot of more autocentric uses. That, that would be a great place where people are going to drive. We're, we're trying to make transit better. I know Councilmember Driscoll has been very interested in improving transit along Roosevelt Boulevard. We want to do that, but we also want to make sure that the people who are going to drive in the northeast have -- are able to use electric vehicles to do that driving same places and maybe, you know, further parts of the southwest of the city.
But you are 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. thinking about it already. You're looking forward to having those conversations and figuring out how to make that more clear. Yes?
Yeah, thank you for -- whoa. Thank you for your efforts here. We, we do appreciate it. And this isn't specific to you. It's probably for all the stakeholders in a room that, you know, that can, can be, are ambassadors of doing the right thing. Late last year, an investigative reporter from Channel 10, Claudia Vargas, brought to my attention that both the city of Philadelphia itself and contractors in the city 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. of Philadelphia were installing these charging stations without permits. And you can imagine how dangerous that is. So I, as chair of the Oversight Committee of License and Inspection, you know, I immediately notified the commissioner of license and inspection, pointed out that the city is not immune of ourselves as a government from getting permits for these stations. And as -- and I want these things to proliferate and, and, and be in appropriate places so that my colleague can drive her car. But I just wanted to use this forum to bring it to the stakeholders in the room. I know Local 98 teaches that in their classes and very grateful for that, but just as we go forward, if you see something, say something, and, and we're on your side on this issue. Thank you.
Great. And I know that this hearing is mostly about public charging stations, but are you able to offer any information on our plans to also expand the 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. ability for city workers to access charging stations for, for EVs?
Yeah, I think for that, I'd like to call up Dominic McGraw from the Office of Sustainability to answer that question.
Good afternoon, council members. I'm Dominic McGraw from the Office of Sustainability. I'm the deputy director of energy services and operations.
So the question is, are you able to offer any information on our plans while building out public charging stations to also expand the capacity for city employees to charge their EVs?
Yes. So we are working across departments to expand EV infrastructure. We're working directly with Department of Fleet Services to really look at and evaluate where the 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. most critical need is for additional electric vehicle chargers. All the current chargers that we have now, out of the hundred some chargers, only one is a smart charger. So we're looking to incorporate more technology into these, upgrading these chargers that we have and expanding the footprint. We're -- we've applied for several grants. One notably is the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant through the Inflation Reduction Act. So if we're awarded those funds, that'll significantly help us to expand out in, in what we're looking, looking at. Right now, our first Level 3, which will be -- also be a smart charger, will be -- is, is actively being installed in one of our fleet shop sites. And so departments can use that site to, to charge their vehicles, much like the, the contracted Level 3 sites that we have. But we're, we're, we're really looking to expand. And, and Department of Fleet Services within this capital plan for fiscal year is 24 putting forward some charging infrastructure, as 25 is our department. So we're going to work in, in 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. tandem. So Fleet Services will be installing Level 3 chargers in their fleet shops. And then we are looking at Level and across citywide to assist, including assisting the water department with, with their needs.
Great. And where are we now in terms of charging stations available to municipal employees, and where are we trying to get by what timeline?
Great question. So I think right now we're developing plans, looking at assessing the data from the current EVs that we have, what -- using -- we, we've recently released our Municipal Clean Fleet Plan update a few weeks ago, and I can -- I can share that around. And the idea here is really to expand the footprint, so -- but it's really -- it's really an assessment. So we need to assess our sites, which takes time. Right now, we need to do a service and meter request per site to assess with PECO that there's enough local capacity to, to support the charging infrastructure, and then also, does the building itself need a panel 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. upgrade or whatnot? And what we're finding as we're going around is, as you can imagine, the, the, you know, the original electrical design was not anticipating the, the, the demand for, for these. And as we're incorporating more cooling in our facilities and that demand is, is increasing, you know, what can we do? So, so really using smart chargers will help us be able to adapt. And I think we're really trying to develop what that plan looks like so we don't -- we don't have a full plan to, to, to give you all today, but we're, we're actively developing it with consultants and, and assessing our sites right now.
Great. Thank you. And we'd love to see the update to the Clean Fleet --
-- Plan. Thank you all for your testimony and for your work.
I, I have one question before they go. 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172.
It's just sort of a house -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Your mic is off.
Yeah. Housekeeping. I'm getting it. Housekeeping. And you said you were putting like a group together to discuss all of this. What is the role city planning commission is playing on this? You know, this how we are doing the strategic planning?
Yes. So they will be an active member of the, the governance committee (indiscernible).
And the reason I ask this is because they're the ones to disseminate to the rest of the city. Where are we going with this? You know, you have very specific lanes, I understand, you know, in, in, in the Department of Transportation. But I think we need sort of a, a messaging for the -- for the rest of the city and for the rest of the country to see that. And I would love to see the city 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. planning commission, who has oversight over lots of other things that are happening in the city, not just this and how we are working in concert to change, you know, what Philadelphia is perceived as. And that's really why the question was, is, how are we changing perceptions? Because we need more revenue, right? And that'll only come if we're changing the perception that we are a city looking to be innovative, looking to be, you know, looking into the future and also doing things that look growth oriented, where people can participate in the private sector as well. So thank you so very much. Yeah.
Will the clerk please call the next panel of witnesses to testify on the resolution?
Oh, excuse me, the second panel includes Will Sowers, senior manager of 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. public partnerships and policy for Zipcar, Nigel Broomhall, cofounder and CEO of Invisible Urban Charging, and Paula Hinson, electric vehicle territory manager for Hough Capital LLC.
Good afternoon. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good morning. Or good afternoon. My name is Will Sowers, Chair Gauthier, Chair O'Rourke, and members of the joint committees of the Environment, Global Opportunities, and the Creative and Environment Innovative Economy. My name is Will Sowers and I serve as the senior manager of public partnerships -- thank you. And policy for Zipcar. I appreciate the opportunity to provide testimony on how Zipcar and car sharing can help advance the city's electrification goals under Resolution No. 240172 and to answer any questions you may have today. Zipcar is the world's leading car 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. sharing network, driven by the mission to enable simple and responsible urban living by reducing the need for personal car ownership. Car sharing allows Zipcar members to reserve vehicles by the hour or by the day, typically from a location just a short distance from home. By sharing a car, fewer personal vehicles are on the road, which means less congestion, less carbon emissions, less curb and parking competition, and more free space in neighborhoods across the city for people and not cars. While Zipcar has a national presence, we consider our relationship with Philadelphia to be particularly important as our president, Angelo Adams, is a proud Philly native hailing from the 9th Councilman District. While Angelo regrets that he could not be here today, he recently visited to help launch our new partnership with the Philadelphia Housing Authority, where Zipcar provides affordable, convenient vehicles to residents, enabling them to access personal and professional opportunities. A press release outlining the partnership has been submitted as part of my 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. testimony. On March 4th earlier this year, my colleague, Torrey Fishman, had the opportunity to testify before the Legislative Oversight Committee on how car sharing can advance Philadelphia's carbon neutrality goals. A copy of his testimony has also been submitted as part of today's and includes information regarding this -- the specific impact of car sharing for your residents. Today I'll focus specifically on electrical -- electric vehicles, known as EVs, as part of our car sharing fleet. Last year marked a beginning of a new chapter for Zipcar. We further expanded our commitment to reducing carbon emissions by launching EVs across multiple markets, including here in Philadelphia. We also joined the White House EV Acceleration Challenge, committing to placing percent of our EV fleet in 21 overburdened communities and expanding our EV 22 fleet to -- up to current -- double its current 23 size in 2024. 24 EV car sharing has been recognized as a 25 significant path forward to electrifying urban 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. transportation systems. In a 2020 study conducted by Dr. Susan Shaheen of the University of California Berkeley's Transportation Sustainability Research Center, EV car sharing users were more likely to recommend EVs to others and more likely to purchase an EV in the future. The Biden-Harris administration and the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation recently announced a $54 million funding opportunity, just this past week, as part of its Communities Taking Charge Accelerator, that will provide charging and deployment solutions for shared electric vehicles, a potential opportunity to expand EV car sharing in cities nationwide like Philly. EV car sharing provides access to electric vehicles to those who cannot afford to lease or purchase one. It removes the -- removes the barrier to EV adoption for those without access to home charging, particularly those living in multifamily housing. It expands sustainable travel options for those who rely on biking, walking, and public transit. And while a typical Zipcar member reduces their carbon 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172.
footprint by 1600 pounds per year compared to non-car sharers, electrifying those trips further reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Deploying electric vehicles in a car sharing network has different challenges compared to a typical consumer owned EV or centralized fleet. An EV car sharing trip can be someone's first EV experience, and range anxiety is a common concern. As research by Dr. Shaheen in a 2022 study, Vehicle Electrification in Carsharing and Transportation Network Company Fleets, car share operators must carefully consider how to ensure users have a sufficient battery charge to complete their trip, as insufficient power levels could have a long-term impact on their willingness to use it again in the future. Furthermore, Shaheen suggests that infrastructure uncertainties, location, and cost have significant impacts on the ability to electrify shared vehicles. To mitigate those challenges, Zipcar has prioritized creating a positive EV and EV charging experience for our members and partners. Zipcar uses a variety of charging methods to 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. ensure our vehicles are ready for every reservation, such as dedicated Level 2 chargers at our home locations, mobile charging, and shuttling our vehicles to DC fast chargers. Additionally, members receive an EV onboarding guide that informs them on how to find charging stations and charge their Zipcar mid trip. We include the cost of charging with each reservation, just like our gas vehicles, and provide access via an RFID card in the vehicle through partnerships with EVgo and ChargePoint. We proactively monitor the charging levels of our electric Zipcars to make sure our members have a positive EV experience. This world class experience is unlike that of the average EV car owner and a result of our strong partnerships with innovative industry partners in cities. At Zipcar, we believe the road to electrification rests on a strong foundation of convenient charging infrastructure, which is just starting to emerge in cities nationwide. An optimal charging framework is necessary to support an electrified fleet. For 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. charging infrastructure to be successful, we believe there are four key areas infrastructure must include. It must be reliable, well maintained, and easy to use. It must be convenient and easy to find, no different than a gas station. It must be in safe, well-lit locations and it must be available across the city at different types of locations so every resident and visitor can have easy access to charging. As we electrified our fleet, one central theme emerged from our learnings, partnership. Partnerships across the EV ecosystem with government, charging operators, housing authorities, residential complexes, universities, lodging, and other groups have provided the template to -- for successful programs. A few of those include our partnership with the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District to create our community car share. EV car sharing in low income, disadvantaged communities, recently featured in a US Department of Energy's case study. A 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. partnership with the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services to enable city employees to use electric Zipcars for city business and a partnership with boutique hotel, Staypineapple, located in Seattle and Portland, which provides access to electric Zipcars for hotel guests. Today, we are working with our city partners to find creative solutions to electrify our car sharing locations. The city of Boston was our first city partner to provide Zipcar with dedicated Level 2 charging at its municipal lots. Dedicated Level 2 charging allows the Zipcar member to start a trip at a full charge and plug back in when they return the car at its reserved space, providing a positive EV charging experience. Many of our city locations, like here in Philadelphia, are located curbside.
Our members love curbside car sharing locations. They are convenient and easy to find. However, curbside can be a challenge to electrify with competing curb uses and high installation costs. To resolve those issues, curbside 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. chargers should have retractable cables to minimize vandalism concerns and reduce conflicts with pedestrians and cyclists with consideration for utility pole or lamppost mounted applications to reduce installation costs. For example, the city of Seattle and its utility, Seattle City Light, conducted a curbside charging pilot program using pole mounted retractable cable chargers, resulting in comprehensive car share friendly design standards. A link to those standards is included in my testimony. A best practice we acquired from providing shared electric vehicles as a sustainable transportation solution is that collaboration between the public and private sector is critical to successfully meet and expand sustainable transportation goals. By working together and tapping our broad and deep experience, Zipcar, the city of Philadelphia, PECO, and other public and private sector partners can advance this historic generational transition and ensure that we are paving the way for the future of sustainable transportation. Further, we found that EV car sharing 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. is the best way to bring affordable electric vehicle access to low income and underserved communities, and we look forward to working with the city and other local partners on all available grant or funding opportunities to make this happen. As a mission driven company, Zipcar shares the city's goal of reducing carbon emissions and can provide innovative solutions to help the city become a national model that runs on affordable, convenient, and sustainable transportation. Zipcar has made material commitments to provide and promote sustainable, equitable transportation, not only in Philadelphia, but across the country. To that end, we look forward to continuing the work with this -- these committees and the city council to advance the city's carbon neutrality goals under this resolution by expanding electric car sharing as an affordable and sustainable transportation option throughout the city. I appreciate Councilmember Ahmad's sponsorship of this resolution and leadership on 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. this issue. Thank you for your support and for the opportunity to testify today. I would be happy to answer any questions.
Thank you so much. Ms. Hinson, can you please, please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony?
Sure. Thank you for having us. My name is Paula Hinson. I am a EV consultant for Talson Solutions, and I am here basically in support of Nigel. My background, I used to sell electric vehicle charging stations for Hough Capital and I have pretty extensive experience in the sales of EV charging stations, both Level 2 and Level 3. But I'm going to pass the mic over to Nigel and he will give you a lot more information.
Thank you. Distinguished members of the Council, thank you for the opportunity to testify here today. My name is Nigel Broomhall and I'm the chief executive officer of Invisible Urban Charging. IUC is a US-based company, contrary to my accent, with a global footprint, footprint, and we're 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. driven by a core mission, and that is to accelerate the world's transition to electric transport. We achieve this by deploying and maintaining reliable networks of publicly accessible EV charging stations around the world. Imagine a future where EV charging is as ubiquitous as gas stations are today, a future powered by clean and sustainable transportation, and a future where charging infrastructure just works. Here at IUC, we're actively making that vision a reality. We're proud -- we were proud to announce, a couple of weeks ago, a landmark partnership with CBRE to deploy one million chargers across the United States across the next five years. This collaboration builds on our success in Europe, where we're -- we have also signed contracts to install 300,000 chargers, starting with the UK, Germany, Italy, and Norway. We bring this global experience at scale and a proven track record to Philadelphia, ready to help the city become a leader in accessible and reliable EV infrastructure. 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. While Philadelphia has made strides in promoting EV adoption, challenges remain regarding reliability and maintenance of publicly available charging stations. I can say that these mirror the challenges that we see in almost every other city around the world. There is limited network coverage, many areas, particularly underserved communities lack adequate access to charging infrastructure. Station downtime is an issue. Inoperable chargers due to malfunction or lack of maintenance create frustration, frustration for EV drivers, and they hinder the transition to electric transport. Data transparency is an issue. A lack of real time data on charger availability and functionality makes trip planning for EV drivers difficult. And small installations. EV chargers installed in small numbers mean that any inoperable stations and block stations become material challenges for EV drivers. However, these challenges also present exciting opportunities, and IUC is uniquely positioned to address these. 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. We have global expertise, particularly through our partners. Leveraging our experience in diverse urban environments we can develop a deployment strategy that considers Philadelphia's specific needs. Scalable solutions. Our solution is well-funded and highly scalable, ensuring that we can meet Philadelphia's growing EV infrastructure demands. We're accountable for uptime. As we would say in, in our world, one throat to choke, we utilize high quality and future proof charging technologies, data protocols, and security to ensure we have visibility of our network by 15 7/365 and ensuring a guaranteed uptime ratio 16 above 97 percent. 17 And scale and density. We only install 18 in minimum blocks of 10 charges at any one site, 19 and we encourage scaling this to between 10 and 20 20 percent of all parking stalls for future 21 proofing. 22 We do see also opportunities beyond 23 charging. The transition to EVs presents a 24 wealth of opportunities for Philadelphia beyond just environmental benefits. IUC, along with our 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. Philadelphia based partners like Talson Solutions, a respected Philadelphia based company, and others, are committed to working with the city to unlock these opportunities. Job creation and training is one in particular. The deployment and maintenance of EV charging infrastructure requires a skilled local workforce. IUC, in collaboration with local partners like Talson, can help create new training programs and job opportunities for Philadelphians, fostering a thriving, clean energy industry in the city.
We estimate the creation of between 751,000 jobs to deploy and maintain to 25,000 EV chargers to meet demand 16 by 2030. And these job numbers don't go away, 17 they will continue to grow as EV numbers grow. 18 We also see an increased revenue 19 opportunity for the city. Ours is a charging as 20 a service model and this ensures that the city retains 80 percent of the revenue from the EV drivers using the charging stations. This new income stream can be used to fund vital programs, infrastructure improvements, and community initiatives. Once deployed -- and each charging 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. station is used only once per day -- we estimate the city could generate $75 million per year and this approach continues to grow into the future. Local and minority business partnerships. We are committed to partnering with local and minority owned businesses like Talson for critical services like professional and construction services. This not only fosters economic inclusion, but leverages the expertise and experience of these businesses for the benefit of the entire city. In fact, a joint proposal by IUC and other minority firms highlighting this collaborative approach has already been submitted to PennDOT. As well as Talson, our local team includes David Mason + Associates, US Facilities, McKissack and Obermayer. We agree with the estimations in regards -- that were previously tabled, in regards to the number of charging stations Philadelphia will need. We estimate they will be 20 -- there will be between 20 and 35,000 public charging stations to meet the demand by 2030 and we are committed to working with the city of 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. Philadelphia to develop a data driven plan to -- for deploying charging stations strategically throughout the city, ensuring all residents have access to reliable and convenient charging options. In terms of our approach, we provide a cost effective, reliable, and sustainable solution for Philadelphia's EV charging infrastructure needs. We utilize our own capital. That's used to deploy, most importantly, permit, permit, design, deploy, and maintain the network, eliminating upfront costs for the city. We're also not dependent on grants, but we do have an innovative approach to how the city could utilize grants to achieve a superior long- term benefit. Our uptime guarantee ensures reliable service and minimizes disruptions for EV drivers. We do all this for a fixed fee per socket and we take full responsibility for ongoing maintenance, repairs, replacements, and we -- that allows you to free up city resources for other priorities. In terms of economic benefits, we 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. partner globally with established firms, CBRE and JLL, to hire and train local workforces for installation and maintenance, stimulating the local economy, and as I said, the city retains 80 percent of the revenue generated by EV drivers using the charging stations, creating that new income stream. Our open data platform provides valuable insights on charging usage patterns and the city maintains control over pricing structures for all EV charging. From a long-term sustainability perspective, we utilize standardized technologies and guarantee replacing all charges at least once within the term of the contract, ensuring compatibility with evolving EV standards. Our global experience and proven track records position us as a reliable partner. In terms of a sustainable future, building a robust and reliable public EV charging network in Philadelphia requires collaboration between various stakeholders and we are committed to working with city agencies to develop strategic deployment plans and prioritize underserved communities, leveraging our global 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. expertise, utilities to ensure sufficient grid capacity and explore innovative charging solutions.
Drawing on our experience in collaborating with utilities worldwide and community organizations to raise awareness about EVs and promote charging accessibility in all neighborhoods, fostering a more inclusive transition to electric transportation. In conclusion, building a robust and accessible public EV charging network is just the first step. By working together with the city and local partners like Talson, IUC can help Philadelphia unlock the full potential of the EV revolution, creating a more sustainable, prosperous, and equity -- equitable future for all residents. We stand ready, ready to partner with the city of Philadelphia to develop a comprehensive EV charging strategy that addresses not only infrastructure needs, but also job creation, economic development, and community benefits. We welcome the opportunity to discuss these issues further and collaborate with Council to make Philadelphia a leader in the EV 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. revolution.
Yeah. Thank you so much. Yeah. I remember. Thank you so much for your testimony, both of you. I'll start with him because I have to remember his accent and remember what he said. I'm doing a translation in my head. Thank you so much. Congratulations on your one million --
-- EV charger contract with CBRE. Where, where are those? Just to -- just for curiosity. Where are those going to be?
They are across the US. So there's no one specific area. CBRE has 15,000 different sites --
You seem to have a lot of data around this. I, I don't know if it's, you know, you know, if this data is 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. anything you can share with us. We would love to see how you came to these numbers and, and, and see how we can kind of model some of it, since you're actually going to go into a million of these, right? So my question is, what is the economic model? Like what is, is the return on investment on this site and sort of owners plus city look like?
So our model is charging as a service where we invest capital and installing the chargers. So we do everything end to end. Permitting is important through design, installation, commissioning, and then the ongoing monitoring, management, maintenance, and monetization on behalf of the site owner, in, in this case the city. What happens is we have a fixed fee, and you need to have a transaction a day per charger before chargers break even and become profitable. We can share that model with you so it shows how you can get to profitability on charging infrastructure. Our, our mission is to accelerate the 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. transition through charging infrastructure, so it's critical. And our model's designed to get stations to profitability, so site owners want to put in more infrastructure. So we can share that with you.
So, so the responsibility for all this servicing, you said you do the whole maintenance and servicing for the owner of the actual. So you don't actually own the charging stations?
So that is on us. What we provide as a service is a guaranteed uptime. And we also ensure that the charging infrastructure maintains pace with any technology changes. So that future proofing piece is, is on us as well.
And I have a question for Will Sowers. So you will need his chargers for your Zipcars, right? So --
So, you know, 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. it's a great model, and I think I've used them, and I know many others have used them. What has been -- do you have like quality -- well, maybe qualitative and quantitative data around the experience of your customers? Meaning they come to -- they get a charge -- a car fully charged, and then they go about their business and then they bring it back and then they -- but in that interim, they might run out of charge, or they might need more charging. Do you get any feedback? Do you have any information from them of their experience using an EVZIP?
We do. We've done extensive research, both qualitative and quantitative, with our membership on that experience from the moment they pick up the EV to the moment that they bring it back. And that is in part why we have come to believe that, one, we cannot move faster to electrify our fleet than where infrastructure is going. And so because it's the moment that we move faster is going to be a poor experience for our members.
And so we're taking those 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. learnings, though, and that's why we've developed an EV guide for them, to help them overcome some of those challenges. So that EV guide comes directly from those, those types of learnings. And we do everything from not just, you know, quantitative surveys, but also even qualitative interviews where we talk one-on-one with a member about that experience so we can incorporate that directly into our learnings and our product planning. So those learnings go directly into what we may do next quarter to improve that experience.
And again, I don't know if you're able to share some of that data because that would make our life a little easier to know what the user experience has been in our city and that would help us be more strategic in how we do all these placements. So we would love, from both of you, what you can share to, to, to forward that to us. Yeah. You know, whatever you can. That would be --
-- really much appreciated. 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172.
Thank you. I have a question for Mr. Broomhall. What US cities are doing this very well? And I know that you're here, you're sort of, you're pitching. However, I'm interested to know if, if you have this information, do cities typically contract out the building of this infrastructure or do cities that typically do this themselves?
That's a great -- that's a great question. So in the most part the model has been contract out rather than do it themselves. I think we're at where it's, it's, it's getting very interesting is where that revenue goes and, and how you offset things like fuel exercise -- excise tax and things like that. So we do get a lot of questions about that. I will say that I've had some interesting conversations in Georgia with the -- with the, the councils and with, with the governor down there. Those are very interested in those pieces. I think the predominant model has been, take the federal grants or whatever those grants are, and give, essentially give them to developers to develop out infrastructure. And 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. then obviously that future revenue sits with whoever they've outsourced that piece to. We don't think that that is in the long-term best interests, interests of local communities. And we are seeing -- we haven't seen anybody take a leadership position on that at this stage in the -- in the US. The model is a little different in some of the European cities. Probably if you wanted to look to the best in breed charging infrastructure deployment in the world, you couldn't go past Amsterdam. Amsterdam has not only sufficient charging infrastructure, but they've also done it very well. Yeah.
And what does -- I know that I heard the Councilmember speak, for instance, and I, I think I heard it referenced in other parts of this hearing, that more people would buy EVs if they knew that the infrastructure was there. But I'm curious about what it looks like. Like is it just that we -- you build out the infrastructure and then people automatically start buying EVs? Does it typically take like a lot of education or some 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. type of campaign? What has that looked like in other cities?
Yeah, it's -- it is a bit of the case that if to the point that was made, the more infrastructure that's put in, the more people will purchase EVs is -- range anxiety is always in the top five around the world. So running out of electricity. I can tell you as somebody who got to a charger the other day with 0 percent, I was a little nervous. So range anxiety and, and getting a sufficient charging infrastructure ahead is, is super critical. You do see, particularly in workplace deployments. So we work with some REITs across the country, for example, and they are installing chargers behind closed fences for anchor tenants. And they have seen anywhere between a 5 and 10X increase in staff buying EVs because they know they can charge, charge the vehicles. So there is a bit of a -- there's a little bit of build it and they will come. I guess we're, we're seeing some of the consumer pull and regulatory push around the world that suggests there's enough tailwinds here 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. that, that the momentum will continue. I'm, I'm, I'm sure you've seen the statistics that are coming out of other parts of the world, but I saw one yesterday which absolutely melted my brain. In China, in the first two weeks of April, they sold 514,000 vehicles. 268,000 were electric. So we, we see this accelerating. The -- probably the, the best curve to look at in regards to uptake of EVs across the world would be Norway. 10 years ago, EVs represented 5 percent of sales. Now they're 90. So we do see that, that accelerating. I, I share the concerns of the Councilmember regarding some of the US based car manufacturers that are slowing down production. Other parts of the world are not.
Are there any more questions from members of the -- of the committee for this panel?
You mentioned you do the whole servicing, installation, servicing, 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. all of that. Sorry. Again. You do all of the, the entire process. What is the hiring process been? Do you hire people, train them, and, and then deploy them? And so they're your employees?
They would be -- no. 7 So there is opportunities for local businesses, to your point, you made earlier, to flourish. We don't hire that, that core. We're a very lean core organization and we use a hub and spoke model, so we prefer to partner with the best. And local is always better. So CBRE and JLL provide some overarching project management, but they will use subcontractors that are on the ground locally, and that allows those businesses to grow and flourish over time. You can't -- you can do a degree of remote maintenance for EV chargers, but you also have to do visual inspections and you, you have to look at things like damage, etc., plugs breaking. So there is a, a significant on the ground business and job creation opportunity in front of cities that take a lead in this space.
And if you have any numbers of that projection, we would love 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. that. And I'm sure we -- our own Transportation Department as well as our city planning is probably looking at all those numbers as to what the job creation model could look like. I also wanted to -- the Zipcar piece here and I forgot to ask the previous panel about placement of these. Do you have -- as, as you are, you know, putting out these Zipcars, are you -- because you don't do the -- you just go to whatever chargers there is or you have your own installed chargers just for getting them renewed, right? But not -- you, you don't have charges elsewhere just on your property, on your company.
So we utilized a variety of methods to make sure that our EVs are charged. So our preferred method is having a dedicated Level 2 charger that lives at the home location of the vehicle. And we rely on other property owners, whether it's the city or multifamily residential or private parking operators that have installed those chargers. And so we're using those chargers. But in other cities, we've also done shuttling to DC fast chargers. So we rely again on third party charging operators and 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. their equipment. And we've also used mobile charging where we've provide -- where we've brought charging to the vehicle where it's located. So we've, we've -- we're experimenting with, I guess, an all the above approach to, to try to get EVs out as quickly as possible.
Will the clerk please call the next panel of witnesses to testify on the resolution?
The third panel includes Ignatius Fletcher Jr., instructor, ATEI Local 98 and IBEW, Thomas Bonner, senior, senior manager of state and government affairs at PECO.
Good afternoon. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
My name is Ignatius Fletcher Jr. My name is Ignatius Fletcher Jr. I'm a 19-year member of IBEW Local Union 98 and 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. I'm a fourth-generation electrician and I'm currently an instructor at the Apprentice Training for the Electrical Industry for Local 98's Apprentice Training. In an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the negative effects of climate change for future generations of Philadelphia residents, the transition from traditional automobiles to electric vehicles is a necessity. In order to accomplish these hefty, yet attainable goals, the need for an increased EV charging network and maintenance workforce is imperative. Both the EV charging network and workforce is important to Local 98 and to the IBEW around the country and specifically in our city. Apprentice training through education and training in modern, modern technologies such as EV charging systems will work toward attaining the goals of a better and cleaner environment. These goals come with the caveat of having the equipment installed safely, on time, and reliably. The IBEW and Local 98 are prepared 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. with a skilled and educated workforce that only the IBEW can produce. In order to reach our goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by increasing the use of electric vehicles, there is a need to install and maintain many new electric vehicle charging systems, EVCS, throughout the city of Philadelphia. The urban environment poses the most challenging to EVCS infrastructure. Urban cities are often overcrowded and a large majority of the homes in these cities lack driveways or space for residential EVCS. This requires the need of a very strategic plan of where to develop and locate EVCS within cities such as Philadelphia. Without a well-thought-out plan for mape -- for mapping public EVCS within the city, range anxiety and lack of infrastructure will continue to slow the EV market as a whole.
This can limit users' options for charging and may deter others from using EVs altogether. Increasing the amount of public EVCS available can help to accommodate 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. residents of Philadelphia and encourage the change from our traditional automobiles to EVs of all kinds, including the battery electric vehicle, the hybrid electric vehicle, and the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. I have been a full-time instructor for over eight years and have been involved in many aspects of the electrical industry, specifically with training, which include safety, from OSHA, the National Electrical Code, life safety systems, and emerging technologies. Emerging technology courses I teach to apprentices and journeymen alike include photovoltaics or solar courses, lighting and control systems, energy storage and micro grid training and certification, as well as electric vehicle charging systems. EVCS is a technology that the IBEW and NECA have been focused on for many years now. Electrical Vehicle Training Program, EVITP, is the first certification course for installing electric vehicle equipment in the US and was developed in 2011. My father, a retired member and instructor, was involved with the development 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. and adoption of that -- of that course's use in IBEW when it first started. IBEW and NECA partnered together to install the first EVCS in Montgomery County in 2011 at King of Prussia Plaza. While EVs and these charging equipment may be a new technology to many, it is something that we have been involved with for quite some time. Local 98 members and apprentices can and have received training in the EVITP program to become certified installers. Our current apprentice curriculum includes EVITP courses in the five-year apprenticeship program. The EV course includes lessons on electric vehicles, electric vehicle charging equipment, the National Electric Code, advanced load calculations, site assessment, commissioning, and troubleshooting. At the completion of this 18-hour course, the students must take an online certification exam, a third party provided assessment from EVITP. This course and documentation provides our members with knowledge and skills related to the charging products and associated equipment on the market today. 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. Electrical workers completing this training go to work with the ability to implement best practices in areas such as charging station equipment, infrastructure site assessment, load calculations, installation, commissioning, and troubleshooting. The key to an electrical installation or maintenance is to have a knowledgeable and experienced electrician working on and completing the project. Our IBEW and Local 98 electricians understand the challenges and safety concerns that come with this equipment. Traditional troubleshooting and testing techniques are not enough and, in many cases, will not work on EVCS. Testing of this equipment will require it to be energized in order to gain proper readings and information. Only a qualified person is able to complete these projects in a safe and timely manner, with the reliability that the equipment will work as intended. A qualified person as defined by NFPA 70, the National Electrical Code, is one who has skills and knowledge related to the construction 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. and operation of the electrical equipment and installations and has received safety training to recognize and avoid the hazards involved. That definition describes all of our IBEW Local 98 members. Our members go through a five-year state accredited apprenticeship program which includes 1,080 hours of classroom activity and training and 8,000 on the job training hours. Throughout this program, they receive OSHA 30 training, NFPA 70E, which is electrical safety training, and EVITP training.
I can't imagine anyone more qualified for EVCS installations than our dedicated members. While there are many hurdles and questions to overcome with building an, an EVCS infrastructure, the city of Philadelphia will benefit largely from the transitions to electric vehicles. The issues in front of us are far outweighed by the benefits of EVs and other emerging technologies. The environmental impact will help the generations that come after us, the reduction of oil dependency will benefit people now and, in the future, and the jobs that are created for qualified electricians, other trades, 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. and all people will have a lasting effect. Thank you.
Thank you. Please state your name for -- please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Yes. Hi. My name is Tom Bonner. I'm senior manager of state government affairs with PECO. As you know, PECO is the electric company that serves Philadelphia and the suburban counties. Thank you for the opportunity to testify here today. In addition to leading the company's legislative policy efforts, my responsibilities also include collaborating with the Philadelphia Office of Sustainability and the Philadelphia Energy Authority. I've been actively involved in PECO's efforts to support transportation electrification since 2009, including representing the company on City EV Task Force that was organized by Councilman Squilla back in 2016, 2017, and also the, the EV task force that was held in 2023. Take a moment just to commend and thank 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. Chris Puchalsky, Anna Kelly, Akshay Malik, they did a really extraordinary job organizing those sessions, and I think they're going to produce for you a very productive plan to help inform the city strategy for EVs going forward. So really compliment them on that effort. We've also been an anchor tenant in the Drive Electric PA Coalition working statewide on EV issues since its inception, and have collaborated with the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. Really looking at these issues on a regional basis, which is critically important. People don't travel just locally or stop at city or municipal lines. We have really a regional transportation system. Assisting our customers and communities with their efforts to advance electrification is a key component of our company's path to clean strategy, both to reduce our own greenhouse gas emissions and assist our customers and communities in their own efforts. We do not own or operate publicly accessible EV charging stations. Pennsylvania law is still developing in terms of defining what 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. the role is for public utilities in any form of ownership of public charging stations, and at this time the private sector and both equipment developers and site hosts are taking that lead role. The question, I think, still has to play out as to really in terms of ensuring equitable access if there is a role or not, for utilities in earn -- owning charging stations to fill in gaps. Right now, with the federal dollars that are available, available through the IIJA, both the NEVI program and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Program, there does seem to be good momentum for providing that access. But I think time will tell there whether there is a role that, you know, we ultimately get bought in and asked to play. Where we have focused our efforts is on providing incentives, technical support and education to support the development of the EV market. To summarize our efforts, first in terms of our own fleet, we are aiming -- the Path to Clean says we're going to reduce our 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. greenhouse gas footprint by 50 percent from a 2015 baseline by 2030, and then the goal is to achieve net zero by 2050. For our vehicles in our fleet, we're using a combination of full battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, and then for some of our heavier duty equipment, what you do is you electrify the equipment and the cab, but the vehicle is still operating on liquid fuels, at least, you know, for the time being. There are some particular constraints for utilities. We operate on what's called a, a mutual assistance model, where when you have a major event like Hurricane Sandy or the ice storm in 2014, crews from all over the country will come and assist us with power restoration, and when the event hits there, we do the same for them. So you have to be able to ensure that those heavy duty bucket trucks can travel across country. Right now, there's not the infrastructure to support charging heavy duty vehicles moving all across the country. So we, we may not ultimately be able to fully electrify 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172.
all of our vehicles, but we're watching the technology develop and helping advance that. Was really pleased we were the, the title sponsor of the Philadelphia Auto Show's e- Track. We've done something with the auto show back since 2020, and we premiered a fully electric bucket truck at that event. It was great. It drew a ton of attention. People from all over the floor of the auto show could see it and came over to check out the all-electric bucket truck. We offer infrastructure incentives so you -- applicants can achieve, under our public benefit charging program, up to 50 percent rebate on the cost of installing EV infrastructure. That -- the public purpose program includes fleets, transit and paratransit, school buses, taxi and ride share vehicles, apartments, and then locations that are made available to the general public. We have enhanced incentives that are also available for charging stations that are located in environmental justice communities. Our current program expires at the end of this year, but as part of our recently filed 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. electric rate case, we applied to extend that through the end of 2026. For rate incentives, as the market for EV fast-charging service, it's still in its developmental stage. We offer what's called a, a demand charge relief. So when someone puts in a fast charger, even if that charger is only used once a month, that will set the bill for that one -- that charger being used once a month. As you build up demand, those demand charges can be a bit of an impediment to getting the infrastructure out there. So we reduce those charges by 50 percent for the first three years of operation while they build up utilization levels. You don't want to do that everywhere because then you never build up the utilization levels if people are getting free electricity. So you really want to balance the market. You want to get enough infrastructure out there to address that range anxiety that Councilmember Ahmad talked about, but you don't want to build everywhere because it's expensive and you can't ever get to the point of commercial viability. So you're always 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. trying to strike that balance there. For residential customers, we also offer time of use rates so that people can do their charging overnight when there's lots of extra capacity on the grid and extra supply and they can get a cheaper rate for that. In terms of operational support, we have subject matter experts that have worked on pretty much every EV charging station installation project that has come into our region. So they've kind of seen it all, know it all, and can work with the customer to meet their needs. As soon as a project is filed with us through a service and meter application for EV charging, it gets assigned to one of our subject matter experts and they will work hand in hand with the customer from really application to energization. It's a tough word to say, energization. Public education. As I think everyone has noted, there's still a very low level of knowledge and understanding of issues related to EVs. So we work hard to get out into the 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. community and educate the public on EV issues. We lead numerous STEM education events. I've been involved in a lot of those. That is -- those are some of the most fun hours of, of my year, when I get to do those. We have presentations to community organizations and our EV website offers -- offers a wide range of tools for the public, including how the -- how much they will save in fuel, how much they will reduce their carbon footprint, and also their, you know, the, the bottom line, how much it's going to save their wallet to shift from gasoline or diesel to an electric vehicle. Grant support is huge right now. We talked a little -- I know everyone has talked about the NEVI program and the IIJA.
So the state of Pennsylvania overall was provided $151 million to support the development of its fast- charging network. And we've been pleased to partner with PennDOT since day one on the implementation of that. One thing we have stressed to them is you don't want to just meet the minimum standards of, of the NEVI program and put chargers 50 miles 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. away. When you have a densely populated area, like the Philadelphia area, that's accountable for about 40 or 50 percent of all the EVs in the state, you need to build out a radial network so that people can come in and out of the city along different routes and have access to charging. The other advantage of that is instead of building a handful of huge charging hubs that have very expensive electric infrastructure and really long lead time in building out that infrastructure, you can build smaller facilities that are serving a broader geographic area and get them built faster and cheaper. And PennDOT has done a fantastic job. They're one of the national leaders. I think they were the second state to get a project energized. There are some states that haven't even put out their first RFP yet. PennDOT's on their third round. So really can't compliment them enough. We've also worked closely with the city and the DVRPC on applications under that CFI program. Unfortunately, no one in Pennsylvania won first round CFI grants, but we're really pleased that the city and DVRPC are now jointly 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. working together on a joint regional application for the CFI program. We are, you know, happy to again be an anchor tenant in that effort and do everything we can to support that. And finally, as you know, it has been mentioned earlier, the city won an EV workforce development program. So I know the IBEW is working with that. We're also working to develop content and provide training on how to work with the utility on the -- on the installation of charging stations. So, in summary, creating an EV friendly city with infrastructure that supports all forms of transportation and that includes transit, that includes passenger vehicles, that could include electric bikes. I was talking to an electric bike guy just the other day. It will require planning, collaboration, and public engagement. Establishing this infrastructure in an urbanized environment does present some unique challenges, but the benefits to the environment and the long- term cost savings more than justify that effort. So we really commend you on holding this hearing today. We've been proud of the 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. efforts we've undertaken over the last years to work with the city on this, and we know that's only going to accelerate and become more important in the years ahead. So thank you.
Yes. Thank you 9 so much for that testimony. I'll ask Ignatius 10 around -- first of all, thank you to your father, 11 because I actually went -- go to that King of 12 Plaza --King of Prussia Plaza and charge my car 13 there. So -- 14
So, you know, what I understand, and correct me if I'm wrong, for installation, you need a certified electrician to do the installation. I'm told for maintenance you don't need that. Is that true?
So from, from my understanding, there's a couple different parameters to follow under different parts of installations, specifically through the infrastructure plan, through President Biden. In that plan, it mentioned having 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. certification in order to install anything that was funded through that grant. And in that, it also mentioned the EVITP training specifically. So anything that is funded by that should have a certified, not only electrician, but someone certified in electric vehicle installation. I don't believe that there's any wording in there specifically for maintenance. I think it is just for installation. However, just along with any type of electrical installation, anytime you do have electrical installation or maintenance, you should have an electrical licensed, you know, contractor to be able to do that work. And then whenever you have maintenance, often, there is the need to do energized electrical work, which would be the case with electric vehicle charging systems. And once you have the need for energized work, you need to have someone who has training, specifically an NFPA 70E for that. That's -- and that's according to OSHA and the National -- the National Fire Protection Agency that says that you have to have someone who's qualified for 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. those. So where it doesn't say for maintenance, maybe specifically, in still a general application of how an electrician should work is they should have those certifications when they're doing that energized work.
And we can talk about whether that clarification needs to be made, right? And, and how we include that in something.
I was just going to add one thing. So certainly the maintenance on the actual electric interconnection and the equipment is one thing. Another factor to keep in mind is the maintenance of the IT connection and the telematics --
-- in the charging station. Because a lot of literature I've read, when a station is nonfunctional, it is at least as common that it's the telematics that's the 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. problem --
So another question, which we really haven't discussed much here. How much area would you think it would be necessary for an EV station with the canopy of some sort? Some -- is there a need for protection outside of the freezing, really hot? I, I don't know -- because we don't have those at all. They're not like our gas stations, right? So I just wondered, what do you envision, since, you know, you folks work with these, what is the optimal user experience to have any kind of canopy or shade or something? Is that necessary for the equipment, and is that something that would, you know, make it more attractive?
So, for the equipment itself, to my understanding, I don't think 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. there's any protection necessarily necessary for the equipment itself. I mean, the electrical aspects of it, the over current protection and every -- breakers and everything else, protecting the wires and everything, is more --
-- than sufficient during installation. One of the things I would say is, usually physical protection is a good aspect to have, because obviously you have cars pulling up to these stations, and, you know, as you've seen just anywhere in the city and country, drivers often make mistakes, whether it be you think of like the yellow bollards that are put up in front of a strip mall that have glass fronts so they don't accidentally go through the glass fronts. Same thing with a charging station. Sometimes it's best to have bollards in certain locations to prevent that. Curbs. If there's a curb there, that may help to prevent it from being hit as well. I think more of the physical damage related to cars. The other aspects for protection is the 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. cord itself. The cord is the most common issue that you have outside of networking. The most common physical problem is cord damage. It's run over, it's not taken care of, and it could be stolen as well, to be honest with you. Theft is an issue with it. So as one of the previous speakers said, a retractable type of cord would be ideal, although that comes to -- with an expense there. The other types of protection, I think, would be more related to maybe the user's protection, you know, in a well-lit area, closer to a building, where they would feel more accommodating to be able to use it and safe in that -- in that environment. But outside of those -- outside of those protections, I don't really think of anything else on the electrical side.
The, the reason I ask is, Chicago just had this big issue when they had a very -- they had a snowstorm, ice storm, really, and the chargers were dysfunctional, and cars were piling up apparently. We don't have -- You know, with climate change, we don't have as 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. cold winters here anymore, but. And I also heard that heat, very high heat, is also a problem.
So, again, just going, going off of my experience, and I --
-- might not be 100 percent, but usually the electric vehicle charging systems and equipment, I don't think are that greatly affected by the cold and heat. I think that's more related to the batteries in the electric vehicle themselves.
The batteries in an electric vehicle and batteries in general, when it's extremely hot out, they get -- they create heat as well. So the extra heat adds on to the likelihood of damage, or would be similar to overcharging the battery.
Whereas cold weather, the electrons basically inside the battery, which are chemical based, they, they don't move as freely. They're almost like us. They're too cold to move. So they react slower, and the charging 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. times get reduced because of that.
Yeah. I feel cautious in adding anything to what a fourth-generation electrician has to say but I, I have been an EV owner since 2018. In general, in really cold weather, I think you -- a vehicle probably lose about 30 percent --
-- my experience. I've never found to have significantly reduced range, even in hot weather, except, you know, to the extent you're really running the air condition high.
But I, I don't think it's a big issue with hot. In terms of charging speed, I -- there is certainly a little bit of that factor of the -4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172.
-- electrons moving more slowly, but there's, there's no reason the equipment will not function. They have EVs all up in Canada. There are EVs in Alaska and Norway. Their climate's a lot colder than ours, that are, you know, leaders in electrification.
And in terms of canopies, I think I have seen some examples of like solar canopies that are being put in --
-- where you -- they're putting solar panels on the top of canopies and getting some emission free electric that way. In general, you could say, "Well, canopy will make it more comfortable for me to sit in my car while I charge." But when a business owner puts an EV charging, they generally would prefer you go --
-- into their store while they're charging. So I think there --
-- may be a little bit of 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. a push and pull on that.
Okay. And my last question is, is PECO -- Exelon and PECO involved in any -- you know, battery size and battery capacitation is an issue for our cars, right? Are you guys involved in that research at all? Is that in your lane?
In terms of like second life batteries, battery recycling, those issues -
Quality and capacity of that and including also concurrently having the fast chargers. To have the fast chargers be able to, to charge the battery.
Yeah. So there are some companies that are building EV charging equipment that have batteries that are integrated into it. It makes the charging station more expensive, but 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. it is a interesting idea, because one thing we don't want -- well, if we want to avoid to the greatest extent possible, is people charging during those hottest peak summer days, the hottest hours. Most EV charging, we can offer incentives and people can manage their own demand to keep it out of those peak hours. But if somebody is driving along the highway, when are they going to stop? They're going to stop when they want to stop to eat. And unfortunately, that's the same time as the peak.
So some of these companies are saying, "Well, let's put batteries in so that we don't have to be drawing off the grid at peak times and we can get a cheaper rate that way." All that stuff is still kind of like evolving, but it's very interesting. That's also a question, like when transit systems are putting in charging, especially like what they call en-route charging, where the bus will stop for a couple of minutes, get a booster shot of charge, and, you know, they 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. can either put in a battery that provides that booster shot in the, the peak hours, or, you know, they can, you know, build their strategy so that they're bypassing the charger during the peak hours. So there's a lot of stuff that's still pretty early on in development. And that's where the vehicle manufacturers, the utilities, the municipalities, we all need to be working together and talking to each other, because what we want as a utility, we want to make the most optimal use of our grid. The grid is built to serve that hottest summer day. Just about all other times, we've got extra capacity. And to the extent that more people are using it during the lower capacity times, that puts downward pressure on everybody's electric rates. And that's a good thing for everybody. And we just need to work together to keep the, the charges out of the peak times.
I, I hope that answered your question. 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172.
You talked about PECO not owning any of the charging sites at this time. Could you expound on what the implications are for, you know, related to whether PECO owns or does not own stations?
Yes. So, Pennsylvania, the law is really silent on whether utilities can own charging stations and put the cost of that investment into the rates that people pay for their electricity. I don't think there's anybody who envisions -- and, and there are other states where utilities own charging stations. I don't think anybody envisions a situation where I drive an EV, I drive up to a charging station, and I get power that's subsidized by somebody else. The question is, can you put the cost of installing the charging station in rates and then collect it back over, 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. you know, 10, years? Pennsylvania law just doesn't speak to it at all. There are some participants in the market who say -- who say, "No, we should never let utilities own and operate, because that's an impediment to the private sector, the non- utilities." There are others who say there are parts of the, the private market that are never - that are never going to be served. You know, those underserved communities we talked about earlier, that's all still being sorted out in Pennsylvania.
So if PECO 15 owns stations, they might be cheaper for people 16 is that? 17
The concern would be 18 because we're building -- we would be building it 19 within the regulated model, there's less risk, so 20 we could, in theory, you know, undercut the -- somebody who was developing them with a higher risk.
I see. And then I imagine there might be implications on like where stations are. 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172.
I would say if some -- as a public utility, we operate under a universal service model. So you could say we would be well suited to providing a public access charger that might not be economically, you know, attractive to somebody else. And all that's still, you know, I think we're all figuring it out and the market's still in really early-stage development. There have been bills introduced since, I think, 2018 in the legislature. Most of them have carved out a underserved community role, potentially for utilities, but none of them have been able to make it all the way to our governor's desk.
Thank you. And a question for Mr. Fletcher. If -- I think I heard the city say that we had a goal of, or that we need some 20,000 charging stations or somewhere along those lines. How many jobs would it create if we were to go about, you know, if we were to try to reach that goal?
I can't -- I can't speak on numbers for jobs. I'm an instructor at the Apprentice Training. So that would be more on 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. the business office side of our Local. All I can say is that whatever the workforce that would be needed, I'm confident that Local 98 would be able to sustain that workforce and help that workforce, both in what we currently have, what we continue to do, and even through other programs like Plug In Philly, to help others be able to go through, whether it be our program or a portion of our program, to be able to install it. I've trained three years' worth of apprentices, which is over 225 apprentices have gone through the training. I currently have 75 more apprentices right now that are in the midst of training. And I've taught a couple hundred journeymen the course as well, since it's -- since we've really hit the ground running with, with all that. But as far as the number of jobs that would create, I don't have any good numbers on that. I apologize.
Thank you. That's okay. Just curious. Any other questions from members of the committee for this panel?
No, we're good. 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172.
Okay. Thank you so much for your testimony today and for your work.
I want to note for the record that we have written testimony that was submitted by the following people, Natasha Fackler, infrastructure coordinator at PennDOT, Ariella Maron, executive director of Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, Michael Bernhardt, PhD, director of transportation at University of Pennsylvania, Devi Ramkissoon, executive director of the Sustainable Business Network, Jennifer Reagan, an EV owner, and, and we appreciate the submission of that testimony. Is there anyone else here today to testify on this resolution? Seeing that there's no one else here to testify on the resolution, this concludes the business of the Joint Committee on the Environment, as well as the Creative and Innovative Economy, and we will 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. adjourn for today. The public hearing on Resolution No. 4 240172 is recessed to the call of the chair. So thank you so much, everyone, for your attendance. Thank you, Councilmember Ahmad.
Thank you. - - - (Joint Committee was adjourned.) 4/26/24 - JOINT - RESOLUTION NO. 240172. CERTIFICATE OF TRANSCRIPTIONIST I, ERICA PARADYSZ, Legal Transcriptionist, do hereby certify: That the foregoing is a complete and true transcription of the original digital audio recording of the proceedings captured in the foregoing matter. IN WITNESS THEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 13th day of May, 2024. ______________________________________ Erica Paradysz