Las Positas College does not charge for use of the Electric Vehicle Charging stations. Anyone, not only the LPC community, can use the stations free of charge. The charging stations cost money to operate and the users should pay their fair use of the expense.
Sunday morning March 29 the campus is empty with only campus safety cars in the parking lots. A Tesla comes down Campus Loop road and pulls into parking lot H and to an electric vehicle charging station. It is most likely the driver of this Tesla is not a member of the LPC community.
Las Positas College has a number of electric vehicle charging stations in parking lots A, B, and H. Currently there is no charge to charge a vehicle. There are no safeguards to prevent a local resident from charging their vehicles at LPC. Charge Point on their website specifically lists the chargers at LPC to be free and open 24 hours. There is a caveat that parking fees are enforced so in theory a person must pay the $3 parking fee to use a charger.
It is estimated that to charge a Tesla the electricity costs about $10 in California. If a local resident charged their electric vehicle twice per week it would cost the college $1040 annually per vehicle. This could add up to a lot of money if several people not associated with LPC charged their vehicles at LPC.
The car owner not only saves the cost of the electricity to charge the car but if all their charging is done away from home such as LPC the save on the installation of a charging station in their home. One recent installation in a condo cost over $4000 due to the necessity of routing the wire along a tortuous path to get from the electrical panel into the garage.
At the November 2019 Chabot-Las Positas Community College District Board of Trustees meeting approved allowing LPC to establish fees for electric vehicle charging. LPC has not determined the fee or is charging it yet but it may be forthcoming. The fee may stop the public from pirating the charge or at least recoup the costs of providing the charge.
Allowing the public to use the LPC chargers free of charge costs the college money. Electric vehicle owners should be expected to pay for their source of power the same as all other drivers have to pay for gasoline or other fuel.
