Palo Alto, California, home of Tesla Motors, is already one of the most charged cities in the US, and this week, three city council members unveiled plans to make it even more so. Mayor Greg Scharff, Vice Mayor Nancy Shepherd and Council Member Gail Price are recommending a package of laws that would require all new houses to have the necessary circuitry to support EV chargers, and streamline the permitting process for charging stations. The council members also plan to explore new laws that would make sure all new hotels install charging stations and perhaps even require existing hotels to install them.

Sven Thesen, an Evergreen Park resident who installed a curbside charger in front of his house, lobbied for the new requirements for construction projects, arguing that it costs far less to make new houses EV-ready than to retrofit them. “It costs about $200 to make a house EV-ready, and anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000 to retrofit later on,” Thesen told the council.

“Because of the high concentration of electric vehicles in Palo Alto, the interest of our citizens in electric vehicles and supporting the environment and fighting climate change we believe that electric vehicles should be encouraged and supported,” said the three city council members in a memo. “Palo Alto is one of the leading cities in environmental sustainability and it is time to review our processes, ordinances, requirements and incentives for installation of EV stations throughout Palo Alto to ensure that we encourage and nurture the electric vehicle trend.”

Source: Palo Alto Online
Image: jurvetson (flickr)