The City of San Luis Obispo is quickly advancing the installation of electrical vehicle charging stations at Santa Rosa Park and Johnson Park.
The goal of city leaders is to give drivers the accessibility to charge their vehicles at any time of the day.
“I’m a fan of just putting those chargers in because I feel like the more chargers that get put in the more spread out people will be,” said Josh Ottum, San Luis Obispo resident.
Ottum tells me he’s ready for the city’s latest development of new electric vehicle charge point stations at Santa Rosa Park and Johnson Park.
This new development is all part of a new ordinance city leaders recently adopted on November 14 with hopes to become more environmentally friendly.
“We are working to be a carbon-neutral community by 2035 and to do that we have to tackle the emissions that result from transportation,” said Lucia Pohlamn, City of San Luis Obispo Sustainability and Natural Resources Analyst.
The city is working with a third-party company called, Valta Energy, which will install Level 3 Charge Point EV chargers at no cost.
The ordinance does not allow any park usage after 10 p.m.
“Before this ordinance and after it are closed to the public after 10 p.m.," said Pohlamn. "However, with the introduction of the public-facing fast charging infrastructure on these parking lots, we wanted to ensure they were accessible to the public 24 hours a day."
With locals telling me it’s really the convenience that is most beneficial.
“Just finding your way throughout the town and the state, you’re kind of operating by where the chargers are in order on how far you can go whether it's local or out of town, so I think the more chargers the better,” said Ottum.
“Well, it's the trend. It’s great," said Larry Coolidge, San Luis Obispo resident. "I have a plug-in hybrid so I can take advantage of that so I think it’s a good thing."
The proposed ordinance requires that drivers and passengers must be actively charging their cars.
City officials say they will be limited to a maximum of two hours.
The ordinance will only allow drivers to be in the parking lot in their vehicle or going to and from the charger.
Some say they are seeing EV charge point stations increasing in many towns.
“We really charge it at home most of the time because we have, you know, a charging thing,” said Drew Small, San Luis Obispo resident. “We go on road trips. We stop at the superchargers. But I do see they’re increasing in towns so I think it’s a good thing.”
City officials tell KSBY Valta Energy will also be adding charge point stations at the Amtrack and Calle Joaquin Park and Ride lots.
