Occidental’s campus features multiple charging stations for residents who drive electric vehicles (EVs). A new policy was put in place July 1 outlining the use of EV charging stations. Students have expressed frustration over the way in which policy changes relating to acceptable charging areas and access to outlets have been communicated.
According to the Director of Sustainability Alison Linder, the 10 charging stations across campus are the only places residents are allowed to charge EVs on campus.
“Plugging into an outlet or charging in a place that’s not actually a charging station is not permitted according to campus policy,” Linder said.
Burch Sainsbury-Carter (senior), a student who drives an EV, said via email that the charging stations on campus are spread across three separate areas: the solar array parking lot, Collins House and the Newcomb parking garage.
“I am grateful for [the charging stations], despite their somewhat inconvenient locations on the far edges of campus,” Sainsbury-Carter said via email.
Milo Stern (senior), a campus resident who owns an EV, said via email that the state of EV charging has gotten worse during his time at Occidental.
“Charging was free when I matriculated [into] Occidental in 2023,” Stern said via email. “But by the time I actually got on campus, that was phased out for separate student and faculty discount programs. [When I arrived], charging was free for faculty and staff, and students paid discounted prices. More recently, the student program was blown away.”
Stern said via email that the ambiguity of the official ruling on EV charging, as well as the lack of communication between campus security and drivers on campus, creates a grey area.
“If the college doesn’t want community members using 120 volt outlets to support their EV charging needs, there should be some official word on that ruling,” Stern said via email. “As it currently stands, unless you want to pay inflated market prices to charge your car, charging it on campus is a bit of a mess.”
According to Linder, EV charging is limited to stations, as opposed to outlets, for safety.
“The overall campus policy is that it provides a safety hazard when people are plugging in to unauthorized outlets, because the load of any given outlet may or may not be enough to support the demand of a vehicle that’s charging there,” Linder said.
Linder said Occidental’s campus electrician has limited access to certain outlets that were being used to charge electric vehicles, due to the risks of power outages or fires.
“When these reports were brought to our attention, our campus electrician took measures to block some of these outlets,” Linder said.
Sainsbury-Carter said via email there was an instance when he believed an EV charger was supposed to be available for him to use, only for it to fail in charging his car while still requesting payment.
“I tracked from my off-campus house that one of the Collins House chargers was available at around 9 a.m. on a Thursday, so I whipped over there to connect to it,” Sainsbury-Carter said via email. “However, when I arrived, the charger was unable to connect to my car, despite charging me the $25 base charge each time I tried to connect. Eventually, the charger was ‘unavailable’ on the app after charging my card $75 in total, which I have since disputed.”
According to the Electronic Vehicle Charging Station Policy under the Policy Directory section of the Occidental website, Collins House chargers are available for all users at all times. The website states that during business hours on weekdays, the Newcomb parking garage chargers are reserved for employees and the solar array parking lot chargers are reserved for college community members.
“Depending on the charger location, certain restrictions apply,” Linder said. “For example, in the employee lot from the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, that’s reserved for employees.”
Linder said those who believe their access to transport is hampered by charging limitations should keep alternative methods of transportation in mind.
“There’s the Bengal Bus from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. for all trips within seven miles,” Linder said. “There’s also campus bike share, which offers free bike rentals.”
Sainsbury-Carter said via email that some of the charging limitations create difficulties for students with EVs.
“Something particularly puzzling about the charger situation on campus is the fact that eight out of ten chargers are turned off to students from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.,” Sainsbury-Carter said via email. “Occidental is a residential college with a three-year living requirement and many students have electric cars. So it doesn’t click with me why the chargers would be unavailable to us during the day.”
Contact Colin Robinette at crobinette@oxy.edu
