92 EV Chargers Installed At Bay Area Affordable Housing Community

Last year, 92 EV chargers were installed at a San Francisco Bay Area apartment complex. It probably is not too much of an overgeneralization to say most apartment and condo complexes don’t have enough, or in some cases any, onsite EV chargers. Large charger installations at these multi-family complexes help renters and condo owners who have electric vehicles as well as those who are planning on buying or leasing them. Depending on the complex, its rules, and state and local laws, individual renters and condo owners may also choose to have their own chargers installed because charging at home is more convenient and it costs less than using public chargers.

Recently, 92 EV chargers were installed at Middlefield Junction, a new 179-unit affordable housing community in North Fair Oaks, California, which is located in San Mateo County in the Bay Area.

Phillip Kobernick, Associate Director of Energy Programs at Peninsula Clean Energy, answered some questions for CleanTechnica about this.

How many new chargers were installed and how many Level 1 and Level 2?

76 Level 1 outlets and 16 Level 2 chargers. Folks will get assigned to the chargers by Mercy Housing (the property operator) as they get EVs and assigned to the Level 2s if they have above average daily driving and need the higher power.

What connectors are available?

The Level 1s are all bring-your-own cordset, so universally compatible. All EVs in CA are sold with a mobile Level 1 compatible cordset. The Level 2s have a J1772 connector. 

What was the cost of the installation project?

The chargers were installed as a relatively small component of the new build project. So we don’t have great data on just the EV charging portion of the project.

However, in general Level 1 projects in our EV Ready program have an average cost of about $2,700 each, fully installed. And Level 2 projects have an average of about $7,000 each. Our program mostly focuses on retrofit projects at existing buildings and this project specifically was a new build, so actual costs were surely less expensive than our program averages.

Do the chargers use some clean, renewable electricity to charge EVs?

Yes! Power is coming from us, Peninsula Clean Energy, the local community clean electricity provider. An overview of our power sources is here and detailed breakdown in our Power Content Label here.