Board approves new EV Charging Station Fee Policy for Carson City
On Thursday, the Carson City Board of Supervisors approved a new Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Station Policy for the capital city.
Charging stations within Carson City are currently free to use for EV owners. However, with the new policy, utilization of the stations with cost a flat-rate per-hour fee.
For 240V chargers, the flat rate fee is $1 per hour for the first four hours of use and $5 per hour after as a “loitering fee.”
Similarly, for the DCFC chargers, the cost is $4 per hour for the first two hours of use and a $10 per hour loitering fee after.
There are three locations of charging stations: one at the Community Center, and two within the 3rd Street Parking Lot.
Those EV stations were installed at no cost to the city through grant programs.
The city plans to install two new charging stations within Mills Park as part of the E. William Complete Streets Project.
Leading up to the decision, the board heard discussions on the new policy twice before, as well as received information from a business impact statement.
Transportation Manager Chris Martinovich presented the new policy.
Currently, the policy states that stations will be owned and managed by private vendors, not the city itself. However, Supervisor Lisa Schuette asked whether or not this could be changed if the city receives grant funding in the future that requires EV stations to be installed.
Martinovich said that even in that instance, the city would still purchase a station from a vendor who would continue to operate it.
“Even if we were able to obtain the purchase of those through a grant, we as the city aren’t looking to own and operate these stations,” Martinovich said.
Mayor Lori Bagwell added that the policy can always be changed if needed.
The policy was accepted unanimously.