But after all, it’s only (your) money.
Remember last February our glorious, infallible leaders at the statehouse trumpeting their wonderful plan for New Jersey energy independence? Allow me to freshen your memory.
From a story in NJ.com, Feb 15,2011:
One bill to set up charging stations along New Jersey’s toll highways cleared a Senate committee 3-2 Monday.
Legislators and environmentalists said public charging stations are key to cutting pollution, reducing U.S. foreign-oil dependency, and stimulating electric car sales. The stations would be built on parking lots in all but one of the service areas on the New Jersey Turnpike, the Garden State Parkway and the Atlantic City Expressway.
“There are very large numbers (of cars) being produced obviously with the expectation that they’re going to be bought, so we need to be prepared,” said Sen. Linda Greenstein (D-Middlesex), the bill sponsor.
Transit officials estimated each station would cost more than $5,000 to build, and while they supported the idea behind the bill, they raised concerns about investing up-front and recovering costs from drivers, as the bill currently stipulates.
Greenstein told the Environment and Energy Committee she is looking for other ways to fund the project, and legislators urged her to seek federal funds or private investment. She hopes to bring the finished bill (S2603) to the Senate floor within months.
Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Cryan (D-Union), who is sponsoring the bill in his chamber, said an amendment currently in the works would lower the required number of charging stations per service area, which would drive costs down. He also said the price per station comes down to $1,250 with a federal tax credit.
“After tax credits, it’s extremely manageable,” he said. [and who pays for the federal tax credits? …….Us!]
Another bill pending in the Assembly (A3647) would require any new shopping centers to provide the same kind of charging stations in their parking lots. Under that bill, the Board of Public Utilities would set pricing standards for the shopping centers.
I wonder if any of our divine oracles of wisdom in all matters happened to see today’s Drudge Report where they might find this:
Citing a Lack of Usage, Costco Removes E.V. Chargers
Money quote:
“We were early supporters of electric cars, going back as far as 15 years. But nobody ever uses them,” said Dennis Hoover, the general manager for Costco in northern California, in a telephone interview. “At our Folsom store, the manager said he hadn’t seen anybody using the E.V. charging in a full year. At our store in Vacaville, where we had six chargers, one person plugged in once a week.”
Anyone out there still wondering why NJ is bankrupt?
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