With the growing interest in alternative energy sources, electric vehicles are receiving more and more interest. In light of that, three states—California, Colorado, and Oregon—have developed forms to attach to homeowners policies that provide liability coverage for charging stations of the insured.

Topics: Introduction California, HO 24 37, Electric Vehicle Charging Station Liability Coverages Colorado, HO 24 38, Electric Vehicle Charging Station Liability Coverages Oregon, HO 24 39, Electric Vehicle Charging Station Liability Coverages

Introduction

Electric gasoline hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius or Chevy Volt, or all electric cars like the Chevy Spark or Tesla Model X, are becoming more and more available. Between 2008 and 2015, over 411,000 highway legal plug-in electric cars were sold in the United States. California has the most vehicles, with 174,000 units sold since 2010.

The hybrids can run on electrical energy for short trips or gasoline energy for longer trips. The 2015 Chevy Volt has a range of thirty-eight miles on battery power alone, making it good for short trips to save gasoline. The Chevy Spark and Telsa models run on electricity alone. The Spark can go eighty-two miles before a charge, and the Tesla S has a much broader range of 270 miles.

Charging, of course, is essential. While the vehicles can be plugged into a standard outlet to charge, doing that takes a significant amount of time. For faster charging, a 240 volt outlet is recommended, and this must be installed by a professional. A Spark can be fully recharged in seven hours on a 240 volt charger. Tesla says that on a 110 volt outlet, you gain three miles of range per hour of charge; on 240 volt you gain twenty-nine miles of range per one hour charge.

There are different levels of charging: with level one charging, from fully depleted to fully charged can take from seven to twenty-nine hours; level two takes two to ten hours, and level three takes about thirty minutes. Level three bypasses the on-board charger of the vehicle and delivers DC energy directly. Of course for true electric vehicles, the owner must either go no farther than he can return in order to recharge or must be able to find another charging station on the road. There are online maps and smartphone apps that let owners know where the nearest charging station is. Maps will even tell you what type of charger is there, so the owner can determine how long he will have to remain at that location in order to get enough charge to continue his journey.

California, HO 24 37, Electric Vehicle Charging Station Liability Coverages

The form is specific to residences with an association of property owners, generally condominiums, but it can be applied to homeowners forms as well. It allows for the association to be scheduled for coverage. It was created so that if within developments with homeowner's associations, it was impossible or unreasonably expensive to install a charging station into an insured's designated parking space, that the charging station could be installed in a common area for the exclusive use of the insured. The definition of “charging station” is defined by California law. Coverage is for $1,000,000.

DEFINITIONS

Definition 5., which defines “insured”, is extended to include the association of property owners named in the Schedule above, but only with respect to:

1.Coverage E – Personal Liability, but only with respect to “bodily injury” or “property damage” arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of an “electric vehicle charging station”. The following definition is added:

2.”Electric vehicle charging station” means a station:

a.That is designed in compliance with the California Building Standards Code and delivers electricity from a source outside an electric vehicle into one or more electric vehicles; and

b.Is owned by the “insured”, located in the “insured's” designated parking space or located in a common area for the exclusive use of the “insured”.

Analysis

The definition of “insured” is extended to the scheduled association of property owners. Personal liability coverage is extended with respect to injury or damage arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of an “electric vehicle charging station.”

Because this is a California form, an “electric charging station” is defined as a station designed in compliance with the California Building Standards Code and delivers electricity to an electric vehicle and is owned by the insured, and located in the insured's designated parking space or common area for the use of the insured. Because charging stations deal with large amounts of electricity in order to charge the vehicle faster, being in compliance with the building code is essential. Charging stations in general are not do-it-yourself projects.