City of Seal Beach to Unveil EV Charge Stations 7/11

[LBCev]

Per a post at insidesocal.com, the City of Seal Beach will "will officially unveil its two new electric vehicle charging stations Monday, July 11, at 5 p.m. at the 8th Street Beach Parking Lot." I think I might go out to show interest and support for the project as we go to Seal Beach fairly often.

Here is a link to the post: http://www.insidesocal.com/neighbors/2011/07/seal-beach-unveils-electric-ca.html

 

[mwalsh]

Yeah, Michael Ho from the City Engineer's office posted it here:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1148&start=741

I'm going to try and make it too.

 

[thankyouOB]

as far as I can tell from the website, they are pay-to-park lots and that applies to EVs.
I see no exception on the city of Seal Beach pages. It could be an oversight.

 

[mwalsh]

as far as I can tell from the website, they are pay-to-park lots and that applies to EVs.
I see no exception on the city of Seal Beach pages. It could be an oversight.

I did ask in that thread if parking and/or charging was at least going to be gratis for the event, but I'm not sure he'll go back to check on his post. Perhaps a direct email to him would be appropriate for that?

 

[TRONZ]

I probably already know the answer, but are these Eco or ChargePoint? Put me down as possibly attending.

 

[z0ner]

I can't imagine them actually charging for the unveil, but they normally charge $3.00/2 hour period for standard beach parking. To pay less than that and get a L2 oppt'y charge while enjoying the beach sounds great to me.

I'll have to leave work a little early, but count me in as being there.

 

[lonndoggie]

Man, I wish I could go, but (a) the range would be hard to deal with and, more importantly, (b) we'll be out of the country.

I lived in Seal Beach from kindergarten through college. That parking lot (and the one on the other side of the pier) were both free back in the day. Maybe they should go retro for this event, roll back the prices!

 

[mho562]

Thank you all for the response and yes it is only $2.52/ 2 hour time charge. The City will not charge for parking in these EV spaces. For the event the parking will be free. We are looking for cars to be showcased. We need about 4 to 5 EV's.

Please let me know if you would like to have your showcased.

These are Coulomb charge point L2.

Michael S. Ho, City Engineer
City of Seal Beach - 211 Eighth Street, Seal Beach, CA 90740
(562) 431-2527 Ext. 1322

 

[mwalsh]

We are looking for cars to be showcased. We need about 4 to 5 EV's.

Well, most everyone here will have a LEAF they'd want to bring down. I will definitely come with mine, if you tell me what time to be there.

Edit: I just saw your other post....there by 4:30pm. Count me in!

 

[Boomer23]

I'll attend to show support. Thanks Mr. Ho, for letting us know about the event. If you need cars to be showcased, you can count me in, or I'll defer to others.

 

[mho562]

I want to thank everyone for showing up and supporting the City of Seal Beach yesterday. I had a great time meeting you all and I learned a lot. Our Mayor was very excited and appreciative for the huge outcome.

Once again thank you all!

Respectfully,

Michael S. Ho, City Engineer
City of Seal Beach - 211 Eighth Street, Seal Beach, CA 90740
(562) 431-2527 Ext. 1322

 

[mwalsh]

I want to thank everyone for showing up and supporting the City of Seal Beach yesterday. I had a great time meeting you all and I learned a lot. Our Mayor was very excited and appreciative for the huge outcome.

Once again thank you all!

Respectfully,

Michael S. Ho, City Engineer
City of Seal Beach - 211 Eighth Street, Seal Beach, CA 90740
(562) 431-2527 Ext. 1322

Thanks for having us! BTW, did you see our observations on the EV Charging signage...perhaps white striping the spaces with "Electric Vehicle Parking Only" would be a good idea.

 

[z0ner]

I don't think he did, Mike.

Today was a perfect day to enjoy the beach, so I took my daughter down around 10:30. About 10 miles away, I looked at Chargepoint and both stations were showing available, a relief. When I got there, the lot was near capacity but the charging stations were open. Plugged in and away we went.

When we came back to the car two hours later, it was a feeding frenzy in the lot. The second station was ICEd and there were a line of cars waiting to ICE my spot. The ICE family next to me had come back, and we had a civil discussion. They seemed considerate and understanding, but said they were told by parking staff they could park there.

Whether it's true or not, there is still no EV ONLY signage. Is the city fully committed or do they just want to say they are? Those stations are worthless to us if ICE can simply take them with no penalty.

 

[occ]

I don't think he did, Mike.

Today was a perfect day to enjoy the beach, so I took my daughter down around 10:30. About 10 miles away, I looked at Chargepoint and both stations were showing available, a relief. When I got there, the lot was near capacity but the charging stations were open. Plugged in and away we went.

When we came back to the car two hours later, it was a feeding frenzy in the lot. The second station was ICEd and there were a line of cars waiting to ICE my spot. The ICE family next to me had come back, and we had a civil discussion. They seemed considerate and understanding, but said they were told by parking staff they could park there.

Whether it's true or not, there is still no EV ONLY signage. Is the city fully committed or do they just want to say they are? Those stations are worthless to us if ICE can simply take them with no penalty.

So my family went down to Seal Beach around 6pm yesterday, Sunday, and found both spots in use, one by a red LEAF (a couple and baby from Oregon borrowing his in-law's LEAF). We had a good chat, esp about and ICE, huge SUV no less, parked in the other spot. I had to buy a ticket and parked elsewhere on the lot (you still have to pay for parking, as an EV, charging, right?) An hour later, I came back and the ICE was gone, and both spots free, so I opportunistically plugged in and charged up, putting up my charging protocol card in case any other EV needs charging.

I also saw a parking police checking the lot and asked him whether he would do anything about and ICE parking there, and he said until they put up the "EV only" he can't enforce those spots. I also called the Seal Beach Police and asked about that and the nice lady there told me the same thing, but did say that they were in discussion about putting up an "EV only" sign, and that will most likely occur in the future, but she didn't know when that would be.

Since we didn't need to charge, it was no problem, but I can see other EV coming from farther away would be in a bind. Oh well, at least we can keep the awareness in the forefront by politely calling out the issue to city officials.