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Municipal parking lots across Boston to get electric-charging stations

The city announced today that six municipal parking lots will have four to six spaces each converted for use as charging stations for electric-powered vehicles in the first half of next year.

The goal is to encourage electric-vehicle use even by people who cannot install a home charging station because they live in apartments or condos.

The lots: 166 London St., East Boston; 737 Centre St., Jamaica Plain; 10 Tafthill Terrace, Roslindale; 37 Winthrop St., Hyde Park; 451 River St., Mattapan; 16 Hamlet St., Dorchester

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Comments

I hope these are quick charge ( which charge less than an hour) rather than level 2 (which take upwards of 5 hours). Quick charging around the city would be a game changer

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Will the chargers be free like they were in the Boston Common Garage for years?

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Definitely will have to pay, there are charging stations on Cambridge street near govmt center
and it has a m/c / visa pay machine.

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How much does a full charge run? A tank of gas for a 13.2 gal car is between $30-35. Just wondering for the crowd who doesn't have an electric car

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If the city is going to charge a lot for people to use these stations then they shouldn’t be in a Low Income neighborhood.

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Seconded.

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A gas powered car that gets, say, 28 mpg, will cost about 10 cents per mile for fuel

An electric car that gets 3.3 miles per kWh will cost about 5 cents per mile for energy

Standard level 2 charging stations cost on average $1.25 per hour and recharge at a rate of 8 kWh. That equates to a charge of $0.1526 per kWh.

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Hear ye hear ye

I have shatted my trousers

Like this post or you shall shat and fard yours for thee next decade

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This routine is even less funny than the last one.

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I've blocked your account. When you calm down, let me know and I'll think about reinstating it.

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The goal is to encourage electric-vehicle use even by people who cannot install a home charging station because they live in apartments or condos.

Would anyone who can't charge at home really be willing to buy a car that needs a charger just because there's some municipal chargers out there? Personally I wouldn't be willing to do it unless I lived right next to one of these chargers, and even then I'd want to scope it out first to make sure there were enough times that they were free.

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I have seen a number of Tesla vehicles as well as Chevy volts and BMW I3sparked on the street in both the south end, Back Bay, and Jamaica Plain. A lot of commercial parking lots of chargers nowadays, like Whole Foods, and many parking garage too. If you happen to car commute to work, many garages and employer lots also have chargers. I think especially if you’re not a high mileage driver, you could likely get by by “trickle charge” your car when ever you get the opportunity to.

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I think electric cars which require charging are great for those who have their own home but for those of us who live in buildings it seems like it would not be convenient at all. Unless someone comes up with an electric car that doesn't need to be charged, I don't think major cities will see a huge adoption rate. The only person I know with an electric car is a woman who lives in a single family house in Boston that she owns with her own charging station.

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So folks can charge their Tesla, sure. But can I park my 87 volvo there and run a space heater off it? Need to bleed the brakes and swap the strut inserts, but it's too damn cold and dark to work in the street now.

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It's not like a wall socket - it looks more like a gas nozzle than anything else.

Also, just a reminder: At least some of these lots (the Roslindale one in particular, but only because I actually park there sometimes) have two-hour limits. And the fine these days is $40.

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I could get a lot done in 2 hours if I could feel my fingers.

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At Roslindale's municipal parking lot at Taft Hill Terrace, the city looks the other way while Boston Medical Center employees park there for free all day and catch a free shuttle bus to the hospital in the South End. Then city hall's Main Street program wonders why the retail district can't attract enough customers to keep stores in business because customers have no place to park.

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great to have these available but will the city reserve these spaces for EVs only?

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Then, yes, they will be reserved for EVs and plug-in hybrids.

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EVERY DAY in the stupid EV only spot at the train station. Have gotten a single ticket in over a year......

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There's an element of green washing at play here. EVs are not the answer and not even really a stop gap on the way to de-carbonization unless the power is coming from a renewable source. Even still, cars are still cars and an EV still causes traffic like a gas-powered one. I understand the City making them available to people who do need a car but focus should be on reducing car usage.

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Almost 15% of it is coming from renewable sources.

The RPS requires companies that sell retail electricity in Massachusetts to acquire increasing amounts of power from renewable resources, reaching 15% by the end of 2020 and increasing by 1% annually thereafter with no end date.

This is not greenwashing. Increasing use of EVs has a real impact on pollution and greenhouse gases.

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Google Nikola Motors -- they are developing a fleet of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powered trucks for over the road use-- much more efficient, longer range than electric battery powered trucks

Where in Boston could a zero emission truck fuel-up with Hydrogen??

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Looks like the only Hydrogen stations are in Braintree and Mansfield. Maybe. This Department of Energy page has a map that shows zero Hydrogen stations East of California. I don't think those cars have that much range.

Also, your claim that fuel cells are "much more efficient than ... electric battery trucks" appears to be false.

A single chart, published in a December 2006 article on Phys.org shows the added steps required to process hydrogen and turn it back onto electricity to drive the electric motor that powers a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle's wheels.

If you start with the same kilowatt-hour, whatever the source (from coal-powered to entirely renewable), using that energy to make hydrogen produces fewer miles on the road than it does when used to charge an electric car.

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