BGS outlines state EV charging rollout, favors Level 2 networked stations

Bridal Sewell, state energy program manager with the Department of Buildings and General Services, told the Transportation Committee the agency has been installing electric vehicle charging stations at state-owned facilities since before 2013 and is moving from nonnetwork fleet chargers to monitored, public-facing Level 2 charging stations.

Sewell said the program began to reduce fleet fuel costs and the state's reliance on fossil fuels and later expanded to serve state employees and the public. She said most current and planned installs are Level 2 stations, often in two-plug or single-plug configurations, and that the state is prioritizing sites where drivers park for several hours, such as state office complexes.

The presentation provided a map and a site list showing existing networked stations that BGS can monitor and nonnetworked stations originally installed only for fleet use. Sewell said networked (sometimes called “smart”) stations use a cell connection that allows BGS to collect usage data and implement cost recovery, while older nonnetworked chargers were simply plug-in fleet chargers with no transaction traceability. She said the agency learned from usage spikes — including a large demand spike during the April eclipse — and from state employee surveys in 2019 and 2023.

BGS uses ChargePoint hardware for most networked stations and charges an energy rate rather than a flat parking fee; Sewell said the rate set by a prior commissioner is 26¢ per kilowatt-hour. She said tying fees to energy use makes customer charges proportional to electricity consumed when stations engage in charge-balancing among multiple plugged-in vehicles. When payment is accepted at a ChargePoint station, the vendor processes transactions and remits proceeds to the state, Sewell said.

Sewell described a current planning goal, discussed with an interagency EV equipment group and Drive Electric Vermont, of installing at least three chargers per site to ensure redundancy when a cell connection or a single charger is out of service. She said the Waterbury Complex is among prioritized sites because employees consolidated there from Burlington report high EV ownership. Sewell added that funding for the planned 2024 installs is appropriated and that contracting is underway; she said the agency expects work to proceed in the spring and summer construction season and that some sites could be completed “by the end of the summer.”

Committee members asked about Level 3 (DC fast) charging. Sewell said Level 3 installations are substantially more expensive, often requiring service-panel and transformer upgrades, and BGS is not currently including Level 3 broadly in its fleet-oriented plans; she said the program will consider partnering with privately leased buildings or timing infrastructure upgrades with major maintenance projects when it is cost-effective. Lawmakers and other legislators urged exploring Level 3 deploys at high-demand, main-street locations where short-duration public charging is useful.

Committee members also asked about employee-use policy and turnover at workplace chargers. Sewell said the agency asks drivers to move vehicles when charging is complete or at a four-hour mark to improve turnover but currently lacks an enforcement mechanism beyond signage and monitoring. She said BGS is exploring ways to improve turnover rates using monitoring data.

Sewell said the agency has some Level 1 outlets at specific locations for low-energy hybrids and that the majority of current and planned stations are Level 2. She confirmed the list of planned sites was drawn from meetings with fleet managers, design and construction, operations and maintenance, safety, and the 2019/2023 surveys. She also noted outreach resources on the BGS website about station locations, types, and how to use ChargePoint stations, and acknowledged temporary issues with a link that some committee members could not open during the hearing.

The presentation closed with an offer to provide additional information and to coordinate with operations, security, and design teams when sites require special handling (for example, courthouses or locations with security concerns). Committee members expressed general support for continuing deployment to serve state fleet needs and public charging access.

Ending — The committee did not take formal action during the presentation; staff said funding for the forthcoming installs is in place and contracting is being arranged to begin installations as weather and contractor schedules permit. BGS offered to provide follow-up details on site schedules and usage reports.