EVSE and ADA compliance

[ericsf]

My company is in the process of planing the installation of EVSE. We're moving to a new location. The move was the excuse they gave for not investing earlier and as the moving date gets closer and closer they keep on pulling new excuses for not having any process to report. The latest one to date : "We're having problems to find a good location for the EVSE which complies with ADA".

I did some research and found some guidelines which exist about this in California: When a company or a business installs EVSE for public access one out of every 25 spaces has to be accessible to people with reduced mobility. Also the EVSE height needs to be ADA compliant. But as far as I can tell, that's about it. All the other rules such as a maximum distance from the facilities and exclusivity of use do not seem to apply. The rationale is that EVSE spaces main purpose is charging, not parking. The most official documents I found was a "policy" : http://www.documents.dgs.ca.gov/dsa/pubs/policies_rev_01-01-11.pdf. I am not a legal expert but it doesn't sound like this is as solid and predictable as a "law". I imagine policies can change overnight without warnings.

Because of that I am concerned that the people planning this may decide to take the safer approach and apply the ADA rules to the EVSE spaces "by the book". This will end up costing more (i.e. get us less EVSE) and make the EVSE "prime" parking spaces which ICE drivers will likely resent or use "accidentally".

Has somebody else been through this already? What's the deal with ADA compliance?

 

[garygid]

I suspect that you are correct in both evaluations.

I only have brushed against the rules for number of Handicapped/Disabled spaces.

 

[linkim]

My company is in the process of planing the installation of EVSE. We're moving to a new location. The move was the excuse they gave for not investing earlier and as the moving date gets closer and closer they keep on pulling new excuses for not having any process to report. The latest one to date : "We're having problems to find a good location for the EVSE which complies with ADA".

I did some research and found some guidelines which exist about this in California: When a company or a business installs EVSE for public access one out of every 25 spaces has to be accessible to people with reduced mobility. Also the EVSE height needs to be ADA compliant. But as far as I can tell, that's about it. All the other rules such as a maximum distance from the facilities and exclusivity of use do not seem to apply. The rationale is that EVSE spaces main purpose is charging, not parking. The most official documents I found was a "policy" : http://www.documents.dgs.ca.gov/dsa/pubs/policies_rev_01-01-11.pdf. I am not a legal expert but it doesn't sound like this is as solid and predictable as a "law". I imagine policies can change overnight without warnings.

Because of that I am concerned that the people planning this may decide to take the safer approach and apply the ADA rules to the EVSE spaces "by the book". This will end up costing more (i.e. get us less EVSE) and make the EVSE "prime" parking spaces which ICE drivers will likely resent or use "accidentally".

Has somebody else been through this already? What's the deal with ADA compliance?

At the Dec. 3 LEAF meeting with Nissan at Google in Mountain View, there were 6 chargers for our use at the meeting site, and one of them was dedicated for the disabled space. Perhaps the Google LEAF owners can help you with the ADA-related issues and charging docks.