Clean Fuel News

City Council backs several changes to promote electric cars in New Orleans

The New Orleans City Council took several steps last week to promote the use of electric cars in the city.

It directed the City Planning Commission to consider ending penalties for developers who build charging stations for electric cars on parking lots.

The council also urged other city officials to make it easier for residents and developers to operate electric cars — a move Mayor Mitch Landrieu has pledged to make — and it asked the administration to consider adding such cars to the city’s own fleet.

Council members passed an ordinance and resolution calling for those changes on 6-0 votes, with Councilman Jared Brossett absent.

“This is a small step, but at least it creates a level playing field and will not penalize developments for including green technology,” said Councilwoman Nadine Ramsey, who introduced the ordinance about the charging stations on parking lots.

At present, city rules forbid developers from counting a space with a charging station as one of the required parking spaces they must provide for their projects.

The council has been pondering the idea of promoting such charging stations since at least April, when developers and other experts pitched that idea to the Public Works, Sanitation and Environment Committee.

The discussion at that time centered on ending a rule that bans people from installing a vehicle charger next to the curb in front of their home — an issue that gained public notice when Algiers Point resident Vlad Ghelase tried to install a curbside charger but was told he couldn’t.

City officials pointed to rules that prohibit using public property for private gain and prohibit allowing electrical wires to cross property lines, even from a privately owned lot to the public right of way in front of it.

That's a real problem, environmental advocates say, because most charging of electric cars is done at home and many New Orleanians don’t have driveways or garages and so must park on the street.

The measures passed Thursday urge the administration to install electric car chargers on public property, which includes sidewalks and curbs.

Landrieu is “absolutely committed” to promoting electric cars, in keeping with his commitment to building a more resilient New Orleans, said Hayne Rainey, the mayor’s press secretary.

“At this time, city departments are reviewing the necessary codes applicable to the installation of electric vehicle charging stations in order to better accommodate this growing trend,” Rainey said.

Any private improvement on a public right of way — such as a charging station next to or on a street — would need to be permitted and installed under a franchise agreement, which needs council approval or a city lease, Rainey noted.

Pending roadwork on dozens of city streets, paid for by a $1.2 billion FEMA settlement and other money, could also complicate matters.

Whatever plan the city enacts should consider how many chargers to allow per city block, whether to set up chargers in metered parking spaces and whether the chargers' design is appropriate in certain historic neighborhoods, experts told the council in April.

The city would also need to decide what to do with a charger if the owner of an electric vehicle moves.

The measure aimed at developers directs the City Planning Commission to consider allowing car charging stations to be counted in the total parking spaces a developer may build on a property. At present, developers are banned from counting those stations as parking spaces, which dissuades them from building stations in parking lots at all, said Ghelase, the Algiers Point resident, who is an architect.

The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on that idea in the near future.

Ghelase applauded the council’s action Thursday but said it could have gone further. The city should work more quickly to revise the rules that block people from installing chargers next to the curb near their homes, he said.

“This is the biggest barrier, in our opinion,” said Ghelase, who has an electric car but no driveway. “Nobody’s going to buy an electric car if they can’t charge it.”

While the ordinance is designed simply to remove a barrier, the council’s resolution goes a bit further, asking the city to incentivize developers to install chargers on parking lots, though it’s unclear what kind of incentives would be offered.