Antoinette Johnson waited about 30 minutes to get an electric vehicle fast charger in South Philadelphia, Monday morning.
“I was the third person here,” Johnson said. “There were several people here already charging.”
Some of those people charging were city workers from the Department of Licenses and Inspections.
“The city should get its own charging station,” Johnson said. “That will allow us Uber drivers and people who have their personal cars to be able to not have to wait as long.”
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The city has its own chargers but doesn’t have enough of them.
In December, the NBC10 Investigators reported that the city has 107 chargers for 261 electric vehicles. L&I has more than 100 of those cars and instead of having their own chargers, those workers are told to use public fast chargers.
Gabriel Li of AFSCME DC47 Local 2187 represents L&I inspectors, most of whom have a take-home electric vehicle.
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“it’s a waste of time for the workers to be waiting to charge,” Li told NBC10. “We are asking that they get electric vehicle chargers behind locked gates that only municipal workers can access.”
That may happen in the coming years. Councilmember Jamie Gauthier is the chair of City Council’s Committee on the Environment. She also pushed for L&I to have the electric vehicles they currently have.
“I brought it up to the current Parker administration that we need to remedy in the upcoming budget and I think they are planning to do that,” Gauthier said.
Gauthier pointed to a budget presentation the administration made showing $5.6 million would go to new electric vehicle infrastructure over the next five years.
“Sorely needed not just by L&I inspectors but employees across the city who need to use the cars and have them charged,’ Gauthier said.
The Parker Administration hasn’t said when or if it plans to provide L&I with its own chargers. The administration is currently dealing with another electric vehicle charger infrastructure issue it inherited. None of the municipal EV chargers in Philly were installed with the required permits. Following reporting from the NBC10 Investigators, L&I cited the various city departments with violations that carry a $300 fine. The Parker Administration doesn’t plan on paying those fines, however.
“In the interest of not wasting tax dollars and resources, no City agencies will be charged fines for not having a permit to install the electrical chargers,” a Parker Administration spokesperson told NBC10.
The administration said it is working to get licensed electricians to get permits for existing chargers and future installations. The Parker Administration spokesperson said they are working to “make sure we are well prepared – and in compliance with permits – to be ready for the next level of EVs for City use.”
