Update on Dilbert World – Day 35

Odo 711

Bike running fine. No news there.

I got a response from the Transport Construction Authority. You may remember I was ringing and emailing them as they told the Department for the Environment that they had a guideline that required them to put charging points in all the new and refurbished car parks. I wanted to know if that's the case, where they are? How many are there?

http://zerods.blogspot.com/2010/12/he-shall-give-his-angels-charge-but-not.html 

Well I got the answer today. There's none and no intention of putting any in.

Hi Jason

Thank you for your enquiry. I apologise for the delay in responding.

TCA's Sustainable Design Guidelines policy is applied to all TCA projects and includes a number of different initiatives, each of which has to be assessed on a project-by-project basis for its applicability.

The requirement for EV charging is indicated as a Fundamental initiative in the policy which denotes that in the Design Phase, 80% of Fundamental initiatives should be incorporated in the overall design of the project. The selection by which initiatives from the guideline should be adopted is assessed on the merits of their applicability to the project.

The overall sustainability goal as set out in the policy is achieved for each car park project in the program that TCA is delivering.

EV charging is a new technology in the car industry and there is currently no industry guideline in Australia as to how electric vehicles will be charged in the future. Although EV charging is indicated as a Fundamental initiative, not a Mandatory initiative, TCA has made provisions for 1% of total car spaces in 6 multi-storey facilities to have EV charging. The car parks with EV charging provisions are summarised in the table below:

Project name	Provision for 1% of Electric Vehicle charging bays
St Marys	5
Blacktown	5
Warwick Farm	8
Woy Woy	4
Revesby	6
Wollongong	4
Total	30

These provisions are for one charge point per car space. The location of the electric vehicle charge point is next to the car space. Currently provisions for conduits running to each of EV charging point have been constructed.
  
For refurbished car parks, there are no provisions for installing future EV charging under the current CCPIP.

In relation to preferential parking for fuel efficient vehicles, some of the completed car parks include spaces for small cars.

I trust the above addresses your questions.  If you have any further comments or enquiries, please call 1800 684 490.

Kind regards,

Diane Challenor
Manager | Corporate CommunicationsTransport Construction Authority
T: (02) 9200 0200   D: (02) 9422 0671
F: (02) 9200 0290
E: diane.challenor@tca.nsw.gov.au
W: tca.nsw.gov.au

So I replied with this:

Hi Diane,

Thanks for your reply.

I was just wondering if you could expand on one of your points. You say "For refurbished car parks, there are no provisions for installing future EV charging under the current CCPIP." I don't understand that. I would have assumed that the Commuter Car Park and Interchange Program would have fallen under the TCA Sustainable Design Guidelines. The introduction of the SDG says:

What do the guidelines cover?
The guidelines cover new train stations, major and minor upgrades
to train stations, at-grade and multi storey commuter car parks, and
maintenance facilities.

So do you mean that there are no provisions for installing future EV charging, due to a case by case decision that they wouldn't be one of the 80% of Fundamentals that made it through or do you mean that the SDG doesn't apply to refurbished facilities?

If there has been a case by case decision made to exclude the provision of EV infrastructure the SDG also says "Contractors must supply auditable reasoning if excluded". Is there somewhere I can view the reasoning that has been provided for excluding the Fundamental of providing EV infrastructure for 3% of spots at all of the TCA projects in the current CCPIP?

I've also CC'ed in Leisl as we've been corresponding about this matter.

Cheers Jason =:) 

So if you look past the positive spin that Diane is trying to put on it, they haven't put in the target 3% charge points in any projects, they haven't put infrastructure for future needs in any projects and they're not going to prepare for the future until it arrives... “no industry guideline in Australia as to how electric vehicles will be charged in the future” Well no, perhaps not, but Australia has a 240 volt 10 amp standard for household use and 240 volt 15 amp sockets are quite common (used on caravans and such). You can plug a 240 volt 10 amp plug into a 15 amp socket but not the other way around. So as a first step just putting in 15 amp sockets would be a good start. That would allow for up to 3.6 kW chargers. Seeing as most railway commuters are at work for 9 hours, with travel time the car is going to sit there for 10 hours. Enough to recharge a Leaf from dead flat to full or two thirds charge a Tesla Roadster. There also exists a rather uncommon 20 amp variant that allows both 10 and 15 amp plugs to fit.  When used with the right plug it would allow draws of 4.8 kW.  That means a Tesla Roadster would be 90% recharged from dead flat in 10 hours. At the same time any normal plug would fit straight in.

I wouldn't mind if they just told me to get lost like McDonalds did. What burns me up is their self congratulatory twaddle that they put out in print, followed up with nothing.