Cohousing-L Mailing List: Preparing for electric cars on site

[Thomas Lofft (tlofft]

John Beutler jabeutler [at] comcast.net  wrote: 
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Preparing for electric cars on site
>From Liberty Village Coho in MD

[My wife Ann purchased the first plug in in our community, a Nissan Leaf, last 
spring. We have existing 120V outlets at all of our parking lot lights, where 
she has plugged in. ]
 
 
 
Liberty Village was planned and developed in 1998 and first home completed in 
1999.
 
We installed downcast parking lot lights on 20' poles throughout the peripheral 
parking area. The network was connected to daylight sensors and shutdown timers.
Every light post also had a weatherproof duplex receptacle box installed at its 
base for outdoor tools or other uses as necessary and appropriate. Now they 
give us great flexibility for electric vehicle recharging. Most existing pole 
lights have a base access box that should allow a retrofit 120 volt receptacle 
installation. 
 
21st Century proactive community development would be well advised to think 
ahead and include at least one 240 volt weatherproof recharging station for 
future electric vehicle hookups. Like most costshare aspects of cohousing, it's 
more affordable for the total community to distribute the cost overall than for 
each household to consider how to absorb the cost individually.
 
Then the only challenge will be scheduling hookup time for the multiple users. 
Or whether to provide multiple hookups.
 
Tom Lofft
 
Liberty Village, MD
http://www.libertyvillage.com