Electric vehicles spark conversation on Longboat

Electric vehicles have circled back as a hot topic on Longboat Key ahead of a workshop being held on the vehicles and other green initiatives. 

The need for more charging stations has been an on-again off-again conversation in the town for some time. 

Currently, the town only has one town-owned electric vehicle charging station. The station is located at Bayfront Park. The station is free, but can only accommodate one car at a time. 

Whitney’s on the north end has a charging station, but it only accommodates Tesla vehicles. Private charging stations include one for residents only at Marina Bay and a members-only station at Longboat Key Club.

However, resident David Novak has taken it upon himself to begin discussions with Bank of America. The idea came after he noticed the bank’s overflow lot, the corporation’s support of electric vehicles and a Florida Power and Light transformer nearby. 

“It would certainly be a benefit to the community,” he said. 

Earlier this month, the corporation announced new loan options that would allow buyers to finance their electric vehicles and charging stations at the same time. 

He emailed the regional president of the bank, who expressed interest in moving forward with the idea and forwarded it on to higher-ups. 

About three months have passed since then with Novak’s only receiving correspondence that the bank needs more time to consider the idea and potential next steps. 

Although no formal agreement has been reached, Bank of America representatives are aware of the town’s workshop. 

The possibility of adding additional charging stations within the town is not a new idea.

A program from Florida Power and Light’s “EVolution” grant program, which if approved in 2021, would have paid for the town to install up to four more stations on the Key. However, commissioners decided to vote against the installation after knowing the town would be responsible for paying for the electricity needed to power the stations.

After the contract’s seven-year term, the town would have had to purchase the charging stations to continue using them. The charging stations were estimated to cost between $35,000 and $55,000 each in addition to about $2,000 in annual maintenance. 

“As a town, we really didn’t want to get involved in paying for other people’s power,” Schneier said. “We were happy to facilitate discussions and work with condominium properties in terms of permitting and whatever may be necessary to enable property owners to install charging stations. We weren’t so fond of creating a few stations here and there to have the taxpayer pay for whoever charges their vehicle.”

Some condominium properties allow their residents to have a private charging station installed and measured along with the residence uses so as to not increase costs for residents without electric cars. 

However, Schneier said during conversations over time, condominium owners have voiced that some of their properties simply don’t have enough power coming to the property to allow for the individual stations. 

“That’s an issue (the associations) are confronting, but I am not sure there is an answer to it,” he said.