Prince George’s County takes up electric vehicle bills

LARGO, Md. - In Prince George’s County, two significant electric vehicle bills are up for a final vote on Tuesday, with the sponsoring councilmembers planning a rally before the council session begins.

The two bills involved are CB-105-2024 and CB-67-2024.

The first bill, proposed by Prince George’s County Council Chair Jolene Ivey and Councilmember Wala Blegay, would require electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at all newly constructed, multi-family residential buildings, office buildings, and mixed-use buildings. The changes were supposed to start in 2025 but were amended to begin in 2027.

CB-67-2024, proposed by both councilmembers and the council vice chair, would require 10% of parking spaces in that specific new construction to be EV-Ready and about 5% to have charging stations.

The EV bills are mostly supported. A committee report from last month found they would help the environment and expand access for residents. However, the same report also noted they could increase county enforcement expenses and potentially discourage development, raising housing costs.

Why enforce these changes instead of allowing businesses to implement EV infrastructure on their own?

"Frankly, because it’s not being done," said Blegay over Zoom ahead of the rally, "Right now most of our residents, a lot of people have brought to our attention that they rally just don’t have electric vehicle infrastructure. We find that overall, I would say I live in a townhome that’s already been developed and we see that most of them don’t have them. And then newer ones, it’s an additional cost."

Blegay admitted she hesitated in buying an electric vehicle due to concerns over how expensive it would be to install her own EV charging station. She also noted retailers were against the bills, but she does not agree with the assessment and argues EV is the future.

"The percentages that we’re requiring are very reasonable and we have worked very closely with the development community on this to make sure that they are going to be able to comply. There’s no point in coming up with requirements that are unrealistic. We know that they can," said Council Chair Jolene Ivey. "They’ve done it in other jurisdictions around the country and we just want to make sure that right here in Prince George’s County, our residents have access to the very important infrastructure needed to buy and drive electric vehicles."

Ivey also noted the current Biden-Harris administration is providing federal dollars for electric vehicle infrastructure. It’s not clear if the incoming administration will also provide federal funds to support the same.