Dear Mayor and Councilmembers,
I appreciate that the City Council is trying to solve a serious problem in Menlo Park, and support the passage of the EV Charging
Ordinance.
What’s the problem? We have too many gasoline vehicles in our city, polluting our air, causing asthma, heart and lung disease,
cancers and dementia, and contributing to global warming – the effects of which are becoming more dire each year, with severe
droughts and fires in California.
Passenger vehicles are the single biggest cause of air pollution and carbon dioxide in California. The most efficient way to
address the problem is by moving from gas cars to clean electric vehicles.
According to data gathered by the International Council on Clean Transportation, the number of EVs in Menlo Park grew 8% in the
last year alone, to 18%. See https://www.theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/CA-cityEV-Briefing-20180507.pdf
[https://www.theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/CA-cityEV-Briefing-20180507.pdf]
An EV adoption rate of 18% is great, but we can and must do better for the health of our residents and of our climate. Why aren’t
our city’s EV adoption rates even higher? In part because many people live in apartments or multi-unit dwellings without access to
EV charging. I hear people bemoan this fact all the time. There is demand for EV charging infrastructure. The full potential for
Menlo Park residents to drive EVs can only be met by first satisfying this demand.
The cheapest, easiest solution to this problem is to increase EV charging infrastructure requirements in new construction, which
the ordinance does. The ordinance sends the right message that Menlo Park is serious about enabling and encouraging residents to
transition to EVs.
If EV charging technology changes, the City Council can modify the ordinance. But we have lots of new construction underway and
planned, we have urgent problems of air pollution and climate change, and lots of folks who want to switch to clean cars. It’s
critical to put in place an ordinance now to address these needs and enable Menlo Park to continue to lead the way on ending the
fossil fuel era. It would be much more expensive to go back in a few years, when our EV adoption rate is 25% or 50%, and have to
break through concrete to add the charging infrastructure. Better to put the infrastructure in place now, when the buildings are
being constructed.
Even if EVs of the future have longer ranges, the used EVs of the future will still have relatively short ranges. People of all
income levels should be able to enjoy the benefits not only of cheaper fuel (electricity) for their cars, but also the convenience
of charging at home or at work while their vehicle is parked. We must increase EV charging infrastructure, especially in
apartments and workplaces.
For evidence that the EV charging ordinance will succeed, we need only look to the below letter from Palo Alto’s Development
Director, Dr Peter Pirnejad, about the benefits of a similar ordinance in Palo Alto.
Please pass this ordinance as written, and enable Menlo Park to lead the way in the transition to clean vehicles for all.
Sincerely,
Janelle London
Sharon Court
Menlo Park
From: Pirnejad, Peter [mailto:Peter.Pirnejad@CityofPaloAlto.org [Peter.Pirnejad@CityofPaloAlto.org]]
Sent: Thursday, February 8, 2018 11:09 AM
To: dmchow@menlopark.org [dmchow@menlopark.org]; rjlafrance@menlopark.org [rjlafrance@menlopark.org]; rllucky@menlopark.org
[rllucky@menlopark.org]
Cc: Jacobson, Melanie; oripaz@menlopark.org [oripaz@menlopark.org]; jlondon@stanfordalumni.org [jlondon@stanfordalumni.org];
SvenThesen@gmail.com [SvenThesen@gmail.com]; Hodge, Bruce
Subject: The Palo Alto experience in creating and enforcing an Electric Vehicle Ordinance
Dear Ms. Chow, Mr. Lafrance, and Ms. Lucky,
I was talking to a mutual acquaintance, Sven Thesen, also good friend, and he mentioned Menlo Park was considering an Electric
Vehicle ordinance of some kind. As the Director of Development Services, I am pleased that the City of Menlo Park is advancing a
new electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure ordinance for multi-family and commercial developments and would like to share
my Department’s experience to the extent that it may help you.
As you may know, in 2014 the City of Palo Alto adopted EV charging requirements with essentially the following requirements:
* Multi-family residential – one Level 2 charging outlet and/ or one EVSE for each housing unit, plus install electric wiring for
25% of visitor spaces.
* Hotels – all new builds must accommodate EVs at 30% of public spaces. This accommodation can be either a 120V outlet or actual
charging equipment, but all parking must have at least 1 in every 10 spaces set up to include installed EVSEs.
* Commercial Development – 25% of all spaces must accommodate plug-in vehicles, with at least 5% of all spaces equipped with
charging equipment.
I estimate that this ordinance has increased construction costs by less than 0.5% and I know from experience that it is
considerably more expensive (10-100 times more) to add charging infrastructure post construction than pre-construction. To date,
my Department has had no pushback from developers regarding the ordinance’s residential component and limited pushback on the
commercial side, primarily due to new California Americans with Disabilities Act adding additional parking space requirements. If
Menlo Park was only to enact one component of our ordinance (residential or commercial) I would prioritize the residential
requirement of one charger per residential unit because a) this is where vehicles spend most of their time b) the great majority
of EV users prefer to charge at home versus a commercial setting and c) both home charger install and operational costs are
generally less than the commercial costs.
Palo Alto and Menlo Park have some of the highest purchasing rates of EVs, yet multi-family dwellings that lack charging
infrastructure remain a major barrier to accelerating EV adoption. I appreciate the efforts of Menlo Park and other cities
throughout the region to support EVs as an effective way to cut greenhouse gas and air pollution.
In summary, it is my opinion that Palo Alto’s 2014 EV charging requirements have been a major success. Feel free to contact my
office if there is anything I can do to support Menlo Park in adopting a similar measure. If you have technical questions about
our ordinance the best person to talk to is Melanie Jacobson, copied in this email
Sincerely,
Dr. Peter Pirnejad
Director of Development Services
Peter Pirnejad | Director of Development Services
285 Hamilton Avenue | Palo Alto, CA 94301
[https://maps.google.com/?q=285+Hamilton+Avenue+%7C+Palo+Alto,+CA+94301&entry=gmail&source=g]
O: 650.329.2349 [tel:(650)%20329-2349] | E: Peter.Pirnejad@CityofPaloAlto.org [Peter.Pirnejad@CityofPaloAlto.org]
For scheduling please contact
Tabatha Boatwright | Admin Associate
0: (650) 329-2226 [tel:(650)%20329-2226] |Tabatha.Boatwright@CityofPaloAlto.org [Tabatha.Boatwright@CityofPaloAlto.org]
