Vision: The "A Place to Recharge" project, sponsored by the Beth Abrams Center for Peace, Justice and the Environment (BACPAJE) endeavors to create greater charging access for electric cars via dedicated permitted parking places for homeowners. "A Place to Recharge" proposes that the city of San Francisco become a model city to allow homeowners who do not have a designated space (such as an appropriately sized garage) to charge an electric vehicle, to purchase an annual permit at a nominal fee that would give the homeowner charging access in front of their own home and to bring their own electricity curbside to connect to a charging station where an electric charging device could be installed which could be also shared to provide charging for others during the day via a credit card inserted into the charging station.

 

This would ensure that the car and home owner would have a dependable place at which to charge their electric vehicle overnight, and for others to have access to an opportunity for a complete charge during the day. Because parking can be extremely challenging, especially for the mass return from work each weekday evening, the opportunity to have such a parking place would be a strong motivation for the purchase of an electric vehicle and the cost of bringing one’s electricity curbside.

 

The benefits of such a policy are many: creation of charging infrastructure, strong motivation for increased electric vehicle purchase and use, reduction in both carbon emissions and toxic particulate matter, and increased employment opportunities, with the permit fees covering the administrative costs for the permitting process. Additionally, "A Place to Recharge" creates strong motivation for homeowners to power their houses via solar to run their cars on sunshine.