Silicon Valley companies eye electric-vehicle charging stations as perk

California might soon see more than 200,000 electric vehicles sold in the state annually, and all of those cars lead to one question — where to plug in?

While some Silicon Valley companies already have charging stations in place for use by employees, many other companies have neither charging stations nor policies regarding how stations might be made available — and if they’re made available, who will pay for the electricity.

The cost of electricity isn’t great, experts say: An electric vehicle costs about 2 cents a mile to run, compared with about 14 cents a mile for a gas-powered car. But if one company suddenly has to bear the cost of hundreds of employees looking to charge their vehicles, those pennies can add up.

For some companies, though, it’s a matter of corporate responsibility.

“We keep milk in the refrigerators and cereal in the cupboards for our employees, and it’s not exorbitant or frivolous of us to do that,” said Steve Swasey, spokesman for Los Gatos-based Netflix Inc. “It makes sense in 2010 to have a plug-in station at work, for those employees who are at work for 10 or 11 or 12 hours, to plug their cars in here.”

The company maintains an EV charging station made by Coulomb Technologies Inc. for its 350 employees, and pays for the electricity as well. Netflix doesn’t break down how much it spends for those employees who plug in their EVs at work.

“That seems to get into penny-pinching behavior,” Swasey said. “Yes, you have to watch the pennies, but a high-performance employee is worth more than a couple of kilowatts of electricity.”

As major auto manufacturers begin to ramp up production, more attention and money is being directed at how drivers can charge their batteries.

Read the full story via Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal.