Put another tick in the win column for EV advocates this year. On, Monday November 20, 2017, the Atlanta City Council voted in favor of a new city law that requires 20% of all new commercial parking structures and all new single-family residential homes in Atlanta to be “EV ready”. This means that they will be equipped with the conduit and wiring needed to install EV charging stations, and not have to perform costly retrofits. Plug In America helped by having our Atlanta EV drivers contact their City Council members to show support for the law. Thank you, Atlanta Plug In America friends, for taking action.
The law will take effect immediately once Mayor Kasim Reed signs it. We’re thrilled that the law passed, as not only is this law smart and reasonable planning, but also an investment in green jobs. And, the law incentivizes EV deployment, as access to charging is critical to putting more EVs on the road.
Atlanta now joins other major cities like San Francisco, New York City, Denver, New Orleans, and Palo Alto with aggressive EV Ready building laws. Plug in America is also working with the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) to increase the EV Ready standards for High Performance Green Buildings.
There’s more EV activity going on in Georgia right now, so stay tuned for additional news soon. Plug In America, along with our friends at Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), Clean Cities Georgia, and other EV advocate groups, are working to bring a state tax credit to Georgia for the purchase or lease of an EV.
We hope this is the beginning of a friendly but intense competition among states in the South. We’ll need your help to make this happen, so please sign up to receive our action alerts if you haven’t already, and share the sign-up page with friends and family!
Great initiative! Well done Atlanta
How do you decide which 20% of the population has the right to use this rough-in? Should it be a visible minority, single parents, disabled, the poor or the rich? Does the EV Ready installing conduit and wiring include the building supply, metering, distribution to support the other 80% later? Sounds like they are putting the cheap stuff in early for a random few with the foresight to buy in early and leave the expensive upgrades in the building supply for the less advantage to pay significantly more later at renovation prices. Do they allow for load management to protect the grid and reduce costs? The first city to do 20% was Vancouver in 2009 and it was a big mistake. They are now looking to upgrade to 100%. Oh, don’t forget the metering or no one will be allowed to use it for lack of billing system. The condo regulations must also be done up front to ensure eventually everyone has fair access to the building supply. Please don’t repeat the early pioneering mistakes.