The use of EV charging in Albemarle County has been free for the past three years, but with new legislation, that will change July 1.
Recent amendments to the Virginia state code now allow localities to operate fee-based EV charging, and Albemarle County plans to begin to recover some of its costs for operating the chargers located at the Albemarle County office buildings.
Albemarle County will charge $0.147 per kilowatt hour.
In addition, users will be charged a dwell-fee of $2.00 per hour, or a maximum of $25 per session. The dwell-time fee will apply once the EV’s battery is fully charged and a 30-minute grace period has expired.
Usage fees will cover the operating costs of the EV charging stations and encourage efficient use. The stations cost approximately $5,000 per month, or $60,000 annually.
In the past three years, the EV charges have hosted more than 8,000 unique drivers and dispensed more than 771 megawatt hours of electricity. According to the county, this has saved an estimated 528 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to approximately 59,430 gallons of gasoline.
The charging stations were installed in 2021 and have the ability to charge up to nine vehicles at one time. The project was funded by a $232,500 grant from Dominion and $100,508 from dedicated action funds.
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Crystal Graham
