San Diego wants to build a sprawling electric vehicle charging network — but council members have questions

San Diego is taking key steps to create a regional network of reliable electric vehicle charging stations that will make it easier for residents to own electric cars and help the city replace its fleet of 5,000 gas-powered vehicles.

City officials chose True Upside Consulting to quickly build the network using 400 parking lots located throughout the sprawling city, at libraries, beaches, recreation centers, parks and other public amenities.

The proposed contract, which the City Council is expected to consider in late April, requires no upfront investment from the city and requires the contractor to pay for the use of city property.

But depending on the results of a complex revenue-sharing agreement that would span 10 years, the city could owe as much as $60 million in reimbursement for the costs of electrical infrastructure installed by the contractor.

City officials estimate that the revenue they get from the contract, which will be placed in some sort of secure account so it can’t be spent, will cover 75 to 85 percent of what the city will owe.

They hope to cover the rest with state and federal grants for electric vehicle charging stations.

City council members expressed concerns about this part of the agreement. They asked the city’s independent budget analyst to complete a full assessment of the proposal before the council hearing.

“This is a very big project,” said Councilor Marni von Wilpert at a March 14 meeting of the council’s environment committee. “How to get to $60 million in 10 years?

Jordan More, an IBA analyst, said his preliminary review indicates the proposed contract is a good opportunity, but it raises some questions.

He welcomed the plan to put the revenue in a vault, meaning it can only be spent to cover staff efforts related to the contract. He said the main concern would be other technology replacing electric cars.

“The biggest risk I saw is that in 10 years, will electric vehicles no longer be the best option? More said.

San Diego faced such a problem several years ago when an exclusive agreement with DecoBike to install and operate bike share stations fell victim first to dockless bikes, then electric scooters. All DecoBike corrals have since been removed.

The environment committee chose to forward the proposed contract to the full council without recommendation. And they stipulated that the item should be on the agenda for discussions — not on the consent calendar, where it could be approved with less scrutiny.

Alyssa Muto, director of the city’s Department of Sustainability and Mobility, said the proposed contract would solve many problems for the city. She said the agreement was based on months of analysis, including meetings with other cities and other contractors.

True Upside would be contractually obligated to install chargers at every city library, beach and recreation center within two years, and then in every other city building within five years.

City officials say they have already conducted a photographic analysis of many city lands to determine the best locations for chargers.

The contract would give San Diego the regional network of charging stations needed to make it easy for residents to own electric cars, especially those who live in apartments or other housing where home charging is not an option.

San Diego’s Climate Action Plan, which was revised in 2022, commits the city to 16% of miles traveled being zero emissions by 2030 and a quarter of those miles being zero emissions. here 2035.

The plan also calls for the city to have an all-electric fleet for light vehicles by 2035 and for 75% of its heavy vehicles to be electric by then. Officials say the lack of a regional charging network makes those goals elusive.

Only 150 of the city’s 3,300 light vehicles are electric. The first heavy electric vehicles, two sweepers and a fire truck, are expected to arrive this year.

City officials also say the proposed contract would ensure charging stations are installed in low-income neighborhoods because every neighborhood in the city has either a library or recreation center.

Officials said they chose to have the contract cover the entire city instead of offering city lots for auction individually because they were concerned that no contractors would bid on lots in low-income areas.

Kelly Lyndon, a member of the city’s climate equity task force, said she would like the contract to be less flexible on the number of chargers True Upside installs at each location.

“Could they put one at the Malcolm X Library and 10 at the La Jolla Library and call it done?” Lyndon asked the environment committee.

City officials said the contract would likely create a highly reliable charger network because it includes strong incentives for True Upside.

The company’s profits would decline if some chargers don’t work, and the proposed contract would allow the city to impose penalties if monthly usage reports show individual chargers aren’t working. Additionally, unusable chargers would add to the problems people can report using the Get It Done! tipster app that the entrepreneur needs to fix.

True Upside would pay the city a flat fee per charger and a percentage of revenue earned every three months. The charging rate would start at 50 cents per kilowatt hour and could not increase without city approval.

True Upside could not leverage any proprietary ports, meaning each charger would have to be open to all drivers.

The new contract would allow the city to remove the mostly defunct Blink and OpConnect chargers, located at 14 sites across the city.