Electric Vehicles – Information for UF Departments

During Campus Earth Day in 2015, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Dr. Charlie Lane presented campus with a challenge to add electric vehicles to its growing fleet of biodiesel and hybrid vehicles. The goal outlined by Dr. Lane sought to have 10 percent of UF’s fleet composed of electric vehicles within the next 5 – 10 years. Since then, the University of Florida has been making strides toward improving electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure and locations, adding EVs to the Approved Vehicle List, and working with various departments that have expressed interest in making the transition to plug-in hybrid or fully electric vehicles.

To further encourage adoption of electric vehicles among UF departments, Dr. Lane announced in October 2017 that his office would make available a funding pool of up to $100,000 to offset the purchase price differences between electric vehicles and their conventional (non-electric) equivalents. Although electric vehicles generally have a lower cost of ownership over the lifetime of the vehicle due to reduced maintenance and fuel costs, the higher upfront cost can sometimes be seen as deterrent. Dr. Lane’s funding will allow UF departments to purchase an electric vehicle based on the lifetime benefits of that vehicle rather than solely on the sticker price.

Fleet Vehicle Challenge

• Transition 10% of UF’s fleet vehicles to EVs within 5-10 years (challenge was presented in 2015)
• Read more about this challenge in Dr. Charlie Lane’s Campus Earth Day Speech
• UF Admin Memo addressing the Fleet Vehicle Challenge

Approved Vehicle List

• Learn more about the Approved Vehicle List and general guidelines regarding department vehicles from UF Procurement

EV Charging Station Locations

The locations of the electric vehicle charging stations currently available on campus are listed below. UF is in the process of adding several additional stations which should be operational by the beginning of 2018. A map of the charging locations can be found at: https://campusmap.ufl.edu/# by selecting Transportation > EV Charging.

• O’Connell Center Parking Garage
• Parking Garage 4
• Reitz Union Welcome Center Parking Garage
• Transportation & Parking Services Parking Garage
• Cultural Plaza Parking Garage
• Shepard Broad Building (parking lot on the south side)
• Levin College of Law
• East Campus
• Norman Garage

Using the Campus EV Charging Stations

UF’s newest and all future electric vehicle charging stations operate on the ChargePoint network. These “smart stations” offer extensive features for both drivers (you) and the station owner/operator (the university), including driver updates & alerts, scheduling, and data metrics. Although charging your departmental vehicle on campus is free, your department will need a ChargePoint account to activate the charging stations.

• Create a free ChargePoint Account for your department. This account will be separate from any personal ChargePoint accounts members of your department may already have, and it will be tied to a departmental Pcard. Although EV charging on campus is free, the owners of other ChargePoint stations (e.g. stations out in town) may charge a fee, which is why you’re asked to add a credit card when you set up your account.
• When you sign up for your department’s ChargePoint account, request a physical ChargePoint card and key fob be mailed to you.
• Once the ChargePoint card arrives, activate it online. Then attach the ChargePoint key fob to the key ring for your department’s electric vehicle. Whoever drives the EV will use this card to initiate a charging session at the stations on campus, as well as at any ChargePoint charging stations they may use while traveling off-campus.
• Call or email the Office of Sustainability to let us know that you’ve created a ChargePoint account. We’ll add your departmental account to the UF fleet group.
• For detailed instructions on how to initiate a charging session through ChargePoint, watch this quick instructional video.
• Charging is free on campus, although a strict 4-hour charging limit is enforced to ensure that other drivers have a chance to charge their vehicles as well.

UF’s older charging stations (located at the Reitz Union parking garage and the parking lot to the south of the Shepard Broad Building) do not require a ChargePoint account.