The illogic of not supporting Level 1 EV charging in California

A slow charge is better than no charge, but the state of California and some of its largest cities don't seem to understand that concept. That's the crux of an argument from Plugs and Cars' Marc Geller (a former contributor to AutoblogGreen), who cites the case of a Nissan Leaf-owning San Francisco police officer who had charging privileges at a Level 1 (i.e., a standard 120-volt) outlet at an employee-only lot taken away, all in the name of public policy.

In a nutshell, the Leaf owner, who started leasing his electric vehicle in February, was told he couldn't leave his Leaf plugged in at the standard freebie socket while he was on the job because the police station is trying to get Level 2 (240-volt) stations. Meanwhile, state requirements say that any charging station with employee-only access must be of the Level 2 or quick-charging variety, which cost about 10 times the amount of money to install as Level 1 outlets. Geller makes a cut-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face argument, noting that the very policies designed to push EV adoption may actually be working against it.

In the meantime, the San Francisco policeman now precedes his ride home by charging up the Leaf at a quick charging station at a San Francisco Whole Foods. Where he can buy some great kale.