Installation of the Month (January 2021): Barlow Respiratory Hospital

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While 2021 brings hope and promise for greater widespread adoption of electric mobility, a quick glance at our portfolio reminds us of all the headway we’ve already made toward that end. Last year, we seized on positive customer sentiment and abundant fiscal opportunities in the green energy space, allowing us to become one of the top installers of EV charging infrastructure in the State of California (with 500+ installations completed and counting). As such, we thought it might be worthwhile to share some of these installations with you – a new success story each month – so that you can see firsthand the favorable strides we’re making toward a carbon-neutral future.

This month, we feature Barlow Respiratory Hospital, located at 2000 Stadium Way in the vibrant Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. See it here:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Barlow+Respiratory+Hospital/@34.0757094,-118.2481853,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x2afb71f5d68ae17f!8m2!3d34.0757094!4d-118.2481853).

The historic property, originally built in 1927, is a 49-bed, not-for-profit, long-term acute care facility that has won numerous awards for its service, including 3-time recipient of the prestigious AARC Quality Respiratory Care Award and the only medical establishment in the Western US to earn the Passy-Muir Center of Excellence distinction. Barlow specializes in treating a diverse range of respiratory issues like pulmonary fibrosis, bacterial pneumonia, acute respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome as well as other related conditions like multi-organ failure and wound care. Learn more about them here:

https://www.barlowhospital.org/

We were naturally thrilled when the hospital asked us to install two 50 kWh DC fast chargers in their outdoor parking lot to satisfy the needs of patients and visitors with EVs. Their close proximity to places like Dodger Stadium, Chavez Ravine Arboretum, Angel’s Point, downtown LA and all its surrounding neighborhoods make it convenient for many local EV drivers while also serving as a bellwether of progress in an area that has been dominated by ICE vehicles for decades. Sometimes lengthy wait times or procedures mean that patients and visitors can rest assured knowing their EV will be fully charged when they leave, with a notification sent to their phone through the proprietary EVCS app once their charging is complete.

We now hope that as hospitals in the area begin to recognize the value of electrified transportation – from smog reduction to cost savings to greater efficiency – we’ll also start to see a conversion to electric ambulances and other emergency vehicles, which would naturally require additional installations. We expect government facilities (LA County operates four hospitals and 19 health centers) to lead the way here. The quality of the Barlow installation was already one of the contributing factors that led EVCS to secure a contract with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation to install charging infrastructure at city-owned public parking facilities, so other government-run entities like medical centers is just a small leap.

Thanks again to our wonderful customer, Barlow Respiratory Hospital, for putting your faith in us to handle your installation and for helping not only advance the cause of healthier patients, but also a healthier planet!

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Installation of the Month (February 2021): Hollywood & Highland

In the movie Spider-man, Uncle Ben tells Peter Parker, “With great power comes great responsibility.” The phrase, which came to be known as the “Peter Parker Principle,” is just as true today as it was 20 years ago when the movie first premiered. And just as Peter took seriously his newfound powers, we take seriously our responsibility to facilitate broader access to vehicle electrification options – quite literally the “great power” here is the electricity that keeps EVs moving. We also understand the power of movies and television to convey the importance of electric mobility, be it through information, entertainment or influence marketing. As such, Hollywood has become a tremendous partner in advancing the EVCS mission.

2020: A Year in Review

Two thousand twenty has been a year of undeniable adversity, but also one of remarkable achievement. A year of firsts and hopefully a few lasts. A time of toil and tribulation, but also of triumph. For genuine success is partly defined by our ability to hurdle those implacable obstacles that make the result so noteworthy in the first place. Now, as the EVCS team looks back on this unusual year, we take stock of our unique achievements that made 2020 one for the books.

Electrification Progress in the Age of COVID

It’s pretty clear that vaccine or no, COVID will be here for a while, and with it the new normal of face masks, social distancing, telecommuting and (consequently) less road travel. While some might view this with trepidation, we see it as an opportunity. Since the earliest weeks of the pandemic, major metro areas like Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago – those with large reductions in automobile traffic – immediately began seeing improvements in air quality, according to articles in the New York Times and Washington Post. More recent, an NPR story noted ozone pollution has decreased as much as 15% in many of these places. It seems an unintended consequence of the lockdown has been to accelerate the transition to responsible mobility by demonstrating its positive effects on the environment.

Commentary on Geotab’s 2020 EV Fleet Trends Article – Part II

Two weeks ago, we published part one of our commentary on Geotab’s in-depth article, “Electric Vehicle Trends 2020: Top 6 Factors Impacting Fleet Electrification” (https://www.geotab.com/white-paper/electric-vehicle-trends/). Again, the idea was to assess whether each of the trends were evolving as Geotab predicted and, if so, how EVCS was responding to them in the marketplace. Below are the final three trends referenced and our thoughts on each.

Commentary on Geotab’s 2020 EV Fleet Trends Article – Part I

At the beginning of this year, Geotab published a very interesting white paper titled “Electric Vehicle Trends 2020: Top 6 Factors Impacting Fleet Electrification.” (The piece can be found in its entirety here: https://www.geotab.com/white-paper/electric-vehicle-trends/) Now that we’re approaching the end of 2020, we thought it might be useful to go back through the assertions made in the paper to determine (1) whether the trends are evolving as Geotab predicted, and (2) if so, how EVCS is able to address those trends, including the targeting of customer pain points. Below are the first three trends referenced out of the six and our thoughts on each.