The South Bay Galleria has been popping up on more maps and iPhone apps after it recently installed one of the first South Bay electric vehicle charging stations in their parking structure.
“We noticed an increased trend of patrons driving electric vehicles,” Keith Geiger, the general manager of the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach said.
A bright green Level II, 240-volt station by Coulomb Technologies, that looks like a high tech hose surrounded by green paint, has been added at the west entrance of Nordstrom and allows for vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt, Ford Focus Electric, Toyota Prius, and Tesla Roadster among others to plug-in and power-up while their drivers spend some time in the mall.
Sean Dennison, a Chevrolet Volt driver and personal stylist manager at Nordstrom is grateful for the new pump-freedom. He drives 38 miles everyday from Hollywood, and after ditching a 13 mpg SUV for the 202 mpg hybrid, he is happy there is a charging station in the area to calm his ‘range anxiety’ because of the lack of charging stations in the South Bay.
The Volt uses gas when necessary, but since the charging station was added in January, Dennison hasn’t needed to use gas once. “I plug it into the rapid charger out there for an hour an a half, then it’s full and I park it somewhere else,” said Dennison. “It’s a blessing for me.”
Dennison has also noticed a shift in the dialogue with his clients since plugging in his Volt.
“You can’t imagine the conversations we’ve had,” said Dennison. “We start having conversations about what green means to people – To some people it’s recycling, to others it’s using reusable bags.”
To Dennison, it’s paying less at the pump and looking stylish in his on-trend vehicle.
Steve Fox, a salesperson at Martin Chevrolet in Torrance can’t sell the Volt fast enough.
“The higher the gas prices go up, it seems more and more people come in to ask about the Volt,” said Fox. “We are sold out, and the nine coming are already pre-sold.”
Electric vehicle owners have an entire community dedicated to helping them find free and for-pay charging stations across the country. In L.A. alone there are 261 stations in the ChargePoint Network, with two in Redondo Beach: one at Walgreen’s and one at the South Bay Galleria. However, charging stations are starting to pop-up in many unusual places. Boeing in El Segundo announced earlier in the month that they will be adding charging stations on their campus, and Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach are both discussing the possibility of adding charging stations. LAX also has 10 charging stations available to flyers. Even though the South Bay Galleria has only one at the moment, its station has the capability to expand if an increase in demand is seen.
“Charging stations are starting to pop up everywhere,” said Fox. “It’s just a matter of accessibility and finding them. As soon as the infrastructure builds up, it’s going to attract more and more people to the electric vehicles.”
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According to the Department of Energy, the government has also been stepping in and attempting to attract more people to the electric car fad by offering tax credits to buyers and placing 20,000 additional chargers throughout the country. For the South Bay Galleria, it was about convenience and keeping shoppers happy.
“We wanted to help accommodate our patrons to make it easy for them to make the right decisions,” said Geiger. “We also wanted to be more sustainable and help keep everybody’s options in mind.”
Even with gas prices at $4.45, the South Bay Galleria still only sees the occasional Leaf or Volt hooked up to the station. But they predict that with electric and hybrid cars in such high demand and more charging stations popping up all over the area, they will soon be expanding the striped green line to more parking spots. ER
