Philadelphia Aims To Smooth Way For Electric Vehicles
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia is trying to make itself more friendly to electric vehicles. A new task force has suggested some steps to take and is seeking public comment.
You won't get to park at your own home, on-street charging station, anymore. That was the old way of encouraging electric vehicle, or E-V, ownership. City council ended it after receiving complaints from neighbors about reserved E-V spaces, but they also say it didn't work, generating only about 60 permits in ten years.
"We have to more intelligently address how we can publicly charge vehicles," says Councilman David Oh.
Oh led the charge for a task force. Its draft report calls for more public charging stations in parking lots and workplaces.
"It's a start," said Dennis Rowan, who was among the interested citizens who turned out for a briefing the city held, last week. "I mean, it's not California. The leaders in electrification are California and Paris. So the good news there is, we can learn from best practices there."
Attendees at the briefing had a lot of ideas.
One woman strongly recommended a policy that would force condo associations to allow residents to install charging stations in their reserved parking spaces.
"The associations are conservative, just like they don't like clothes lines and compost piles," she told city workers taking feedback. "I can redo my kitchen in my condo, why can't I fix up my parking spot at my own investment?"
The city also has an online survey to take feedback.
Rowan says the more outreach is needed and maybe a little more speed.
"It's a very fast-developing sector, kind of like the early days of the internet," he said. "So I think it's okay to go slowly but with a ramp-up to hit very aggressive 2030 targets.