Palo Alto’s city council planning to make all new homes EV-Ready, pre-wired for EV charging

Palo Alto took a step closer on Tuesday to requiring that new housing include a 50 amp circuit for electric car charging outlets.  The City Council Policy and Services Committee unanimously recommended that the City Council adopt the proposal.  However, Palo Alto Online slams the move saying “a new law that will force home builders to go along for the ride.”

Santa Clara County is, according to the figures I’ve seen, has the highest rate of electric vehicle adoption in the US.  The San Francisco Bay Area is routinely listed as the leading area for EV sales.  When you break that down per county Santa Clara County is the top region for EV sales with the SF Bay Area.

Therefore, the City of Palo Alto is responding to electric vehicle adoption in their city.  Why, then, is one of the city’s news organizations slamming the city for doing this?

The article gives some data indicating that the move is very wise.

The cost to build the EV charging circuit (50 amp 240 volt) during house construction is described as $500, and that if the wiring is done as a retrofit afterward the cost is described as 10x that amount ($5000).  Hence, future electric vehicle owners in Palo Alto will face much smaller costs than they do today.

Source: http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2013/11/19/proposed-law-aims-to-make-new-homes-ev-friendly

 

About David Herron

David Herron is a writer and software engineer living in Silicon Valley. He primarily writes about electric vehicles, clean energy systems, climate change, peak oil and related issues. When not writing he indulges in software projects and is sometimes employed as a software engineer. David has written for sites like PlugInCars and TorqueNews, and worked for companies like Sun Microsystems and Yahoo.

About David Herron

David Herron is a writer and software engineer living in Silicon Valley. He primarily writes about electric vehicles, clean energy systems, climate change, peak oil and related issues. When not writing he indulges in software projects and is sometimes employed as a software engineer. David has written for sites like PlugInCars and TorqueNews, and worked for companies like Sun Microsystems and Yahoo.

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