Electric vehicle users in Batavia will soon see new rates at city-owned EV charging stations, following a change approved by the city council recently.
Under the modified ordinance, users of city charging stations will be charged 25 cents per kilowatt-hour for Level 2 charging stations and 50 cents per kilowatt-hour for Level 3 charging stations.
Currently, Batavia has just one Level 2 charging station in the west parking lot at City Hall, per the city. But it’s set to get two Level 3 chargers soon: one downtown and another at Batavia High School, a project partially funded by state grant money.
Level 3 charging, or direct-current fast charging, essentially provides more miles of range with a shorter charge time, according to the Alternative Fuels Data Center from the United States Department of Energy.
Batavia’s new downtown station was originally planned for Shumway Avenue near Flinn Street, but, at a recent meeting, Batavia’s Electric Superintendent Steve Allen said the city is looking for a new location.
The city is aiming to have the Batavia High School chargers go live at the end of the month, a city spokesperson told The Beacon-News on Friday. The city has not yet settled on a downtown location for the second new charging station.
The city first installed a charging station at City Hall in 2018, according to Allen, but he said the current rate of 40 cents per kilowatt-hour is now “much too high.” So, to make rates comparable to nearby communities, he suggested reducing the rate for the Level 2 chargers and instituting a rate of 50 cents per kilowatt-hour for the new Level 3 charging stations.
At the Batavia City Council Committee of the Whole meeting on Sept. 9, council members also discussed instituting a grace period for customers moving their vehicles out of the charging spots and whether to implement a fee for those who leave their cars in the spot beyond it reaching a full charge.
Allen originally suggested a 10-minute grace period, but Ald. Abby Beck suggested increasing it to 20 to 30 minutes.
The council also discussed a fee of $1 per minute that a user would be charged for leaving their car in the space past the grace period to move their vehicle.
Ald. Christopher Solfa said the overage fee seemed “a bit aggressive.”
Ald. Alan Wolff, on the other hand, said that the app customers use to pay for charging prompts customers when their vehicle is finished charging to ensure that the next person can use it.
“It’s not like we’re looking for money to have a parking space there,” Wolff said. “It’s to keep the thing charging cars. When one’s done, move it, get another one in there.”
Allen also indicated that the stations are not intended as a way for the city to generate money.
“I don’t think these are an economic boon, unfortunately,” Allen said. “I just think they’re a great thing for our community to have.”
These conversations are happening as Batavia is considering other aspects of its energy future. Recently, for example, the city passed an updated energy policy meant to guide where the city chooses to source its power from, what kinds of sources it relies on and sustainability goals.
The city currently gets its energy via an agreement with the Northern Illinois Municipal Power Agency, or NIMPA, a joint action agency made up of Batavia, Geneva and the city of Rochelle, according to past reporting. NIMPA is a partial owner of the Prairie State energy campus, according to its website, and power from Prairie State is distributed to NIMPA members, including Batavia.
Prairie State, a coal-fired power plant in southern Illinois, has previously been ranked one of the top 10 biggest polluters in the country, according to 2023 data
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from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.At the meeting, Beck also expressed support for the charging stations, in particular the locations in the city.
“Having it be a draw, like, ‘Oh, and I can go get a cup of coffee or I can get something while I’m charging,’ is just fantastic,” she said.
The council ultimately landed on considering a 30-minute grace period and the $1 per-minute charge after that, but the details generated further debate from the council when the matter headed to a final vote on Sept. 15.
At that meeting, Ald. Dustin Pieper floated the possibility of putting a cap on how much a person would get charged for leaving their car in the spot and mentioned the possibility of whether a car would be towed if left in one of the spots for a long period of time. He also suggested adding signage that instructs users to contact the city if there’s an extenuating circumstance that prevents someone from moving their car.
Ald. Kevin Malone said he was in support of a cap on an overage fee.
“I think we can set it at a rate that makes it hurt enough that they don’t forget again, but also isn’t … us kind of price-gouging,” Malone said.
The council also discussed modeling the fee after the fee charged when someone parks in an accessible parking space.
Ald. James Fahrenbach said there should be a cap on the fee levied, but said it should be high and noted that the risk of an electric vehicle breaking down is pretty low compared to a non-EV.
Asked by Wolff how this would be monitored, Allen said that use of the charger is monitored through the machine at the charging station, but if someone chose to return to their car to disconnect the charger from the car but leave their car parked there, the city would be reliant on surveillance methods or complaints to enforce compliance.
Beck asked about how many minutes they would enforce the $1 per-minute fee for, and several council members discussed whether situations like this had come up.
Most Batavia residents don’t have electric vehicles currently, per the results of a recent citywide survey of residents. Only 10.6% of just under 800 respondents indicated that they own or lease an electric vehicle, and more than half of respondents said they don’t intend to buy one, according to past reporting.
Allen said the city hasn’t received complaints of cars parked at the charging station while not charging.
Ald. Leah Leman noted that the council was discussing two different situations: a user of the charging station leaving their vehicle in the spot beyond it reaching a full charge, versus a non-EV driver using the space for parking.
Batavia Police Chief Eric Blowers pointed to state statute, which stipulates a $75 fine for parking a non-EV at an EV charging station, and allows municipalities to increase that fine to $100.
Wolff suggested utilizing the $100 fine for a non-EV parked in a city-owned charging station and a $120 cap on the per-minute charge for an electric vehicle staying in the space beyond the grace period, as well as having the city provide a link or QR code at the charging stations to the city ordinance so users are aware of the rules. Malone also supported the $120 cap.
The new rates, along with the 30-minute grace period and a $1 per-minute overage fee, were ultimately approved by the council unanimously on Sept. 15.