In South Lyon, council members are feeling quite exasperated over the slow-paced progress in the implementation of electric vehicle (EV) chargers in their locality. The responsible party for this predicament seems to be the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and their alleged indecisiveness with a company named ChargEV.
It Transpires from the meeting held on Monday night that DTE (an Energy supplying company) had consented to three out of five proposed locations for EV charger installations. However, the ball was currently in ChargEV’s court, a firm perceived by council members as having a lackadaisical approach towards this project.
In the meeting, Councilman Alex Hansen voiced his frustration, stating that it may be the right time to consider other companies for the job. He argued that City of Farmington had their EV chargers up and running in six months, while South Lyon had been stuck in a rut for three long years.
Councilwoman Margaret Kurtzweil was of a similar mindset, and she asked Nate Mack, the DDA Director, whether the current contract with ChargEV would restrict the DDA from seeking alternate suppliers. Mack responded that he did not have this information at the time and needed to revisit the contract and consult the attorney.
The contract with ChargEV had been signed last year after the city’s first deal fell through. Mack explained that the current deal was quite cost-effective for the city. However, the DDA would bear the major part of the expenses related to this installation, and their limited budget slowed down the pace of this project.
Some council members were under the impression that the chargers would be installed without any charges, and the city would receive a percentage of the revenues. Responding to these queries, Mack said that ChargEV had proposed that the city would contribute a part of the installation fee while the company would increase their share of the revenue. Nevertheless, this proposal has not been officially received yet.
As we all wait and watch, no definite action has been taken on this matter yet. As for Councilman Hansen’s suggestion to change suppliers, whether that would indeed expedite the installation process or not, only time would tell.
