Don’t all Rush out to Buy your All Electric Nissan Leaf / Plug-in Hybrid

Are we green in San Francisco? Yes! …….. but only in name.

Google Gavin Newsom and Electric Cars and you get headlines such as “Recharge America with Electric Cars” and “Mayor Newsom Launches Installation of New CityWide Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure”. How about " San Francisco is committed to making the Bay Area the center for the EV market, creating new jobs, reducing our reliance on foreign oil, and boosting our green economy"

Sounds great. Doesn't it? Surely we must be really well equipped now to drive around in Electric Cars?

Having read headlines such as these, I made my way to the San Francisco Auto Show to look at the latest and greatest that the motor industry had to offer. I have had my eye on the Nissan Leaf as a commuter car for a while and had the opportunity to test drive it this week. The car is great, but for reasons which I wont bore you with (I live in a condo) I wont be able to isntall a charge port at my house – which many who are considering electric cars would probably end up doing.

Of course, it shouldn’t be a problem charging an all electric car in San Francisco now, should it? Given all those headlines, I mean, there must be 100s of charging stations dotted all around the city?

UM.

So how do you actually find out where the charging stations are for Electric Cars? Well you go to PG&E’s Website and look! I found the section Electric Vehicles. The page links off to “a list of all publicly accessible electric-vehicle charging stations in California”.

A quick search (Electric Small Inductive / Electric Large Inductive) reveals a grand total of 15 charging locations in the city of San Francisco (see below).

So for those of you who are not able to install a charging port in your own garage (perhaps because you don’t have one), or who are relying on there being charging stations all around the city of San Francisco to augment your car’s charge – you had better talk to your politicians since they don’t seem to be doing much of their own accord in the way of installing charging locations for you ………

Translated: despite all of the hype - there are very few charging stations in San Francisco for your plug-in Electric / Hybrid car.

Appendix

List of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations in San Francisco (Courtesy ofhttp://www.cleancarmaps.com/)

Site Name	Address	Operational Status	Fuel Type Available
St. Mary's Square Garage	433 Kearny Street San Francisco, CA 94108	Currently Operational	INS CND
Portsmouth Square Garage	733 Kearny Street San Francisco, CA 94108	Currently Operational	INS CND
Sutter Stockton Garage	444 Sutter Street San Francisco, CA 94108	Partially Operational	INS CND
Golden Gateway Garage	250 Clay Ave San Francisco, CA 94111	Currently Operational	INS CND
5th and Mission Garage	5th and Mission San Francisco, CA 94103	Partially Operational	INS CND
Moscone Center Garage	255 Third Street San Francisco, CA 94103	Currently Operational	INS CND
Costco - San Francisco	450 10th Street San Francisco, CA 94103	Currently Operational	INS CND
Performing Arts Garage	360 Grove Street San Francisco, CA 94102	Currently Operational	INS CND
San Francisco Civic Center ( Level 2 )	355 McAllister St San Francisco, CA 94102	Currently Operational	INS CND
San Francisco Civic Center (Level 1)	355 McAllister Street San Francisco, CA 94102	Currently Operational	INS CND
Ellis O'Farrell Garage	123 O'Farrell St. San Francisco, CA 94102	Currently Operational	INS
Japan Center Garage	1660 Geary Street San Francisco, CA 94115	Currently Operational	INS CND
Lombard Street Garage	2055 Lombard Street San Francisco, CA 94123	Currently Operational	INS CND
San Francisco General Hospital	2500 24th Street San Francisco, CA 94110	Currently Operational	INS CND
UC San Francisco Medical Center	500 Parnassus Avenue San Francisco, CA 94122	Not Operational	INS CND