Revenue Authority Installs Electric Car Charging Stations

Imagine fueling up while you're at lunch, at work or in court. If you have an electric car, you no longer have to imagine it in Towson garages.

With the help from a $37,000 U.S. Department of Energy grant, the Baltimore County Revenue Authority received 10 electric car charging stations. Revenue authority crews installed eight this week, two in each of Towson's four county garages.

The remaining two will be installed on the street, with the location to be  determined, said parking director Wayne Mixdorf.

The charging stations, priced at $3,700 each, were provided by the federal government, while the revenue authority spent $3,700 to install them. The meters were manufactured by California-based Coulomb Technologies.

Although you need a credit card to unlock the station, charging your car will be free for the next two years under the grant, Mixdorf said.

Unlike Baltimore City, which sets aside prime garage spaces and discounted parking permits for hybrid or electric drivers, the county revenue authority has no plans to provide other concessions for green drivers, Mixdorf said.

MOM's Organic Market in Timonium to its customers.

However, it's unclear how many people will be able to take advantage of the offer for the time being. Mixdorf did not have data on how many county employees drive electric cars or had requested chargers.

One of the dilemmas of the electric car industry is that not enough people drive electric cars yet to require enough charging stations, but there aren't enough charging stations to make buying an electric car as attractive.

Right now, the Chevrolet Volt, the first fully electric car on the market, will cost at least $31,645 after federal tax credits. In October, Chevrolet sold 1,108 Volts nationwide, while Nissan sold 849 of its competing Leaf, Autoblog Green reports.

However, a University of California, Berkeley study predicts 24 percent of all light vehicles on roads in the U.S. will be electric by 2030.

Mixdorf said that as the market grows, he expects the revenue authority to be ahead of the game.

"We want to be able to, as those vehicles become more commonplace,  make sure we have the charging stations for anyone who parks in the municipal garages," he said.