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Annapolis reports prolonged EV-charger outages; Bird ends scooter service, city to seek new vendor
Summary
The Transportation Department told the committee that several fast chargers in city garages have been out of service for extended periods due to parts backorders and vendor coordination problems. Bird has notified the city it cannot continue the shared-mobility pilot; procurement for a new operator will begin.
The Annapolis Transportation Committee received an update on electric-vehicle charging infrastructure and the city’s shared-mobility program at its Sept. 9 meeting. Marcus Moore, the Transportation Department presenter, said the department is prioritizing repairs and preparing procurement steps after the scooter operator notified the city it could not continue service.
Moore said Hillman Garage has one of its four Level 3 (fast) chargers nonoperational and that repairs were underway. He provided cumulative performance figures for the Level 3 chargers: “The downtime for this year, 1 unit's been down for about 3 months between January and March. Another unit's been down for 2 months between May and June. And the unit number 3 has been down since October excuse me, August 18. So cumulative downtime has been a hundred and 85 days, but cumulative uptime has been 836 days with an operational uptime of about 81.”
A contractor and parking representatives told the committee that parts for the Abbott-branded chargers are often backordered and that the outsourced maintenance chain has slowed repairs. Bridal Cleverley, account manager for Premium Parking, described the repair chain: “Most of the parts that come from ABB... come from overseas, and they do take time to come from overseas. And due to the actual reason why it was broken, which was actually a brand new CPU that had been put in, fried within only a year of it being put in. It fried completely... It took 2 months for it to come in, and then another month for them to schedule it with someone to repair it.”
Moore and contractors said Park Place and Gotts Court garages have mostly operational Level 2 chargers, while Knighton’s older units are aging but functioning. The department plans to add stickers to chargers with serial numbers and reporting instructions so users can report outages more efficiently.
On shared micromobility, Moore said Bird — which had been operating a pilot since 2022 while Hillman Garage was rebuilt — told staff it “is not in the position to provide the service... for the foreseeable future.” The department plans to begin formal procurement for a new vendor in the spring; procurement staff will issue a request for proposals because the pilot that allowed the current vendor to operate has expired.
Committee members urged the department to monitor vendor service levels and consider ownership and warranty terms for charger hardware. Moore said some chargers were installed by the garage contractor (Whiting-Turner) and that ABB is the manufacturer; repair and maintenance are performed under separate service arrangements that can include an intermediary (InCharge). Committee members asked staff to check who holds ownership and warranties for specific chargers and to return with timelines for repairs where extended outages persist.
Moore said the department will continue repairs, pursue procurement for shared-mobility services and improve reporting to shorten repair times.
