There’s some news for residents of the City of Los Angeles. They Just installed charging stations for EV’s in over 130 light posts across the City. Hundreds more are to come soon. The move makes a lot of sense since the State of California alone saw a 63% spike in electric car sales in the first six months of 2019.
Los Angeles mayor, Eric Garcetti, projects to have more than 100,000 new electric vehicles on the city limits by 2025.
“When the city decided that one of their priorities was to encourage the purchase of EV vehicles, it seemed prudent that it would be best to attach EV charging stations to our light poles,” said Norma Isahakian, director of the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting.
She explained that a slim charger mounted to a light pole “eliminates another piece of equipment to be constructed into the sidewalk and utilize our circuitry.”
To charge your car in one of these stations it is between $1 to $2 per hour, but parking will be free. People who live in the area know that it’s not a bad deal. The City is making some partnerships for this project, and some names are recognizable by the electric car enthusiast, like EVGO and ChargePoint.
In a video released, the smart city strategist explained a little how the new chargers work.
“The bureau of street lighting is in charge of the operation and maintenance of the street lighting system of over 222,000 street lights throughout the City of Los Angeles. The inspiration for the curbside charging station was borne out of the City’s adoption of a sustainable plan, LA’s green new deal. To increase electric vehicle usage, the City needs to provide accessible charging to reduce range anxiety. Since LA installed LED fixtures citywide, we decided that instead of attaching an additional piece of equipment to attach the electric vehicle charger on our street lights.”