The Petersen Automotive Museum took a leap into the future on Sunday with the inauguration of two new fast electric vehicle (EV) chargers. The chargers will be available to both drivers of electric cars visiting the Petersen and anyone else who just needs a quick charge (parking is free while charging).Â
The new chargers are “Level 3,” which are about ten times faster than the “Level 2” chargers recently installed in the Larchmont parking garage.  They join a growing network of local EV charging stations, which also includes the existing fast chargers at Hollywood & Highland. Here’s a map showing all the nearby fast chargers:
The new Petersen chargers are part of the EVgo network; to charge, you need an EVgo card, the EVgo app, or a plain old credit card.
Along with the ribbon cutting ceremony on Sunday, the Petersen also hosted a panel discussion with Jonathan Levy of EVgo, Valerie Kornahrens of Nissan, and Dean Taylor of Southern California Edison, discussing some of the nuts and bolts of how they’re working together to “Build the Electric Future.” The speakers mentioned that late next year, California would offer a point-of-sale instant rebate for electric vehicles called “POP Into Electric,” which should make buying electric cars easier. And for the geeks out there, they explained exactly why you don’t see EV chargers on lightposts in parking lots (it’s because commercial lighting is often run at 277 volts, which is incompatible with EV chargers).
Finally, panel members praised LA for its leadership in promoting electric vehicles. Kornahrens also mentioned after the panel that the LAPD is evaluating a new Nissan Leaf for its fleet, and that LAPD’s tall drivers find the Leaf easier to climb into than the subcompact EVs the LAPD leased in 2016.
