Arlington County Increases Prices For Electric Vehicle Charging

ARLINGTON, VA —Arlington County Board members unanimously approved an increase in electric vehicle charging fees that they say will sustain the program and support its expansion.

ARLNow first reported on the price increase.

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Starting in November, the rate at county charging stations will rise from 17.4 cents to 30 cents per kilowatt-hour, bringing it in line with rates in Fairfax and Prince William counties.

During a presentation, Emily Nachbar, who leads the Arlington Initiative to Rethink Energy's work on EV charging stations, stated that the existing fee was designed to encourage EV adoption and covered only electricity costs. The new fee will address rising energy costs and support further investment in the program.

Nachbar said the rate would need to rise to 22 cents per kilowatt-hour just to cover energy and vendor costs.

The county will also introduce a 15-minute grace period before charging "dwell" fees for vehicles that remain parked at charging stations after charging ends. Those fees will be waived from 7 p.m. to 10 a.m. to encourage overnight charging, when electricity costs are lowest.

According to Edmunds, most EVs use between 25 and 60 kilowatt-hours per 100 miles. At those consumption levels, the county's rate increase will raise charging costs for 100 miles of driving from between $4.35 and $10.44 to between $7.50 and $18. Those estimates exclude a small amount of energy that is lost during charging.

"Part of the reason that we directed staff to do this during the capital improvement plan was to make sure we can continue to sustainably invest in expanding our electric charger infrastructure," County Board Vice Chair Maureen Coffey said in her closing remarks. "We want to make sure there are as many EV chargers accessible in as many places [as possible] in the county, but that does cost us significant amounts of money to do so.

"By creating a fiscally sustainable EV charging program that does account for capital costs as well, it will enable us in the long term to make more of those investments overall."