Electric Vehicle Drivers Making the Most of 22 Chargers in NJIT Parking Garages

Electric car chargers are becoming more common here at NJIT despite a variety of cultural obstacles and engineering hurdles.

There are approximately 5,600 registered drivers per semester, a few dozen of which own electric cars, and 22 chargers on campus.

"The university wants to promote sustainable transportation. A main player in that realm is electric vehicles," said Rob Gjini, assistant vice president for facilities systems. Using the spaces is free and there aren't any plans to charge fees for them.

About half of 1% of all cars on the road are electric now, with that figure expected to reach 20% in a decade, according to Edison Electric Institute, a nationwide association for power utility companies. CNBC reported in October 2019 that only 10% of electric car buyers are age 25-34, due to the price of such cars compared to those with standard engines, so it's even lower for college-age buyers. However, they noted that younger drivers may buy electrics more quickly than older shoppers as prices decline.

Gjini said the chargers on campus are enough to meet present demand. There are 13 in the Wilsey Street garage. Five of those are universal chargers installed in September 2016. The others are Tesla chargers with four installed in June 2019 and four more in September 2019. The garage at Summit Street saw eight Tesla chargers installed in October 2019. One more Tesla charger is the Fenster Hall garage among reserved spaces since July 2019. All of the Tesla chargers are the standard destination variety, not the faster supercharger variety.

Utility firm PSE&G donated the universal chargers and Tesla donated its own. Grants are being sought that would cover additional equipment, but there are no firm plans to install more right now.

Promoting environmentally-friendly transportation is one reason why the chargers are placed near garage entrances. Another is because lower floors and entrance areas are closest to a garage's electrical power, so it makes sense fiscally and technically to group the chargers there, Gjini explained.

Drivers of traditional vehicles who park in the charger spaces can be fined $50. Some NJIT parkers objected to the fines in a Reddit discussion, arguing that electric vehicle drivers shouldn't get special treatment and that parking in charging spots isn't illegal, unlike parking in accessible spaces. But there have always been policy-designated spaces, such as for faculty/staff parking, reserved spaces, campus events and more, Gjini noted. Drivers can appeal parking tickets, but merely objecting to the university's decision of where the chargers are placed is unlikely to help a case.

Drivers of electric cars and plug-in hybrids have their own discussion community. Kevin Walsh, who works in the information systems and technology department, formed an email discussion list in September 2016. It's open to all faculty, students and staff who drive electric or plug-in hybrid cars. Walsh commutes 40 miles round-trip in his own ride, a 2014 Tesla Model S. A minor claim to fame: his was the first Tesla in NJIT's parking tag system.

"Between 2016 and 2018 there was usually an open spot, but rarely an open charger as two spots share a charger. Other owners were very accommodating in plugging in other people's cars as chargers became available. In 2018 there as a massive influx of Tesla Model 3 cars and finding a spot became difficult," Walsh said. Now, the spots are usually full by 10 a.m. or earlier, he said.

Walsh added that if a charging spot isn't available, then he parks in a regular spot and checks again at lunchtime. He checks more emphatically when driving his wife's Nissan Leaf due to its lesser range in cold weather.

Early on, non-electric car drivers parked in charging spaces as much because of unawareness as because of specific objections, Walsh observed. The parking lines were a similar color to the ground, but have since been repainted to stand out. "So far this semester I think I've only been ICE'd three times," he said, using the electric car driver's slang for when a conventional internal combustion engine car is parked in a charging spot.

Campus security staff is also increasingly familiar with electric cars and charging spots, although it can be confusing with plug-in hybrids because those cars still have tailpipes, Walsh noted.

Serhiy Levkov, a lecturer in the electrical and computer engineering department, drives a 2014 BMW i3 and parks in the Wilsey Street garage. He usually arrives too late to find an open spot at the universal chargers, which are sometimes occupied by non-electric cars, so he has to check again throughout the day. He purchased various adapters that convert Tesla chargers to universal chargers, which work elsewhere but not here. It's unclear why.