Juiceless in Seattle? The Emerald City gets some charging stations and joins the Electric Highway care of EV Project

[Merc-MarkO]

I need to show this to the next door neighbor who went into/thru/over my Mystique and a 2ft retaining wall last fall. There's actually someone out there more incompetent than you!!!

[Massive Attack]

^ wild.... and nutzy "driving"

Tesla charging station in Woodland, CA

The World's first Tesla public EV charging station located at Woodland Gateway Shopping Center.


The station hosts 1 Tesla, 2 Avcons and 1 SPI plus 2 NEV standard outlets made possible by City of Woodland, Petrovich Development Co. and Electric Auto Association
The Tesla Roadster is an all-electric sports car with a range of 244 miles and accelerates from zero to 60 mph in less than four seconds with a top speed of 125 mph.

[Balderdash]

nice electric taxi

[Bodacious]

The Lane Community College Solar Charging Station in Eugene is perfect.

[mitcompressor]

The Miami EV Project

[mitcompressor]

couple more

[Lightnin']

Lone Star State has an EV path which is privately funded and paid for. No government money for this one.

Texas Gets Unique EV Charging Network


by Pete Danko, December 2nd, 2010

While the federal government nudges an electric-vehicle (EV) infrastructure forward through charging companies Ecotality and Coulomb, a power provider is striking out on its own to prepare Houston — and, down the road, several more Texas cities — for the arrival of the electron guzzlers.
NRG Energy’s budding eVgo network, unveiled last month, might represent only one big power company’s small bet that EVs will take off. More hopefully, however, it could be seen as a sign that consumer concerns about EVs will be assuaged sooner than expected, allowing for a speedier development of the market.

i

As NRG boasts, eVgo is the first EV-charging network to arise without government money behind it:

Ecotality’s EV Project is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to the tune of $115 million, and Coulomb fetched $37 million to boost its ChargePoint America.

That distinction alone makes eVgo interesting. But the network (pronounced ee-vee-goh) is also worth watching because NRG is moving so aggressively on the project, with a turnkey charging solution, focused messaging and an array of partnerships that could give the program legs.
While Ecotality’s Jonathan Read has been talking for months about a subscription-based service, eVgo came out of the gate outlining three tidy tiers of service, from a three-year contract at $49 per month that includes installation of a Level 2 charger (but doesn’t include electricity costs, and doesn’t give users free access to public stations), up to an $89/month plan that covers installation and electricity costs, and gives users free, unlimited access to network stations.

Penciling out the value of these plans is difficult, but at the $49/month level, three years’ of monthly fees add up to well under the $2,200 price tag Nissan has put on the purchase and installation of the same smart AeroVironment home charger for Leaf buyers (for those who don’t get a charger free through the EV Project, that is).
Spokesman David Knox said NRG doesn’t expect a flood of customers in the months ahead — CEO David Crane told the New York Times he foresees perhaps 1,000 signups in the first year. But eVgo is a long-term project, Knox said, and a big part of the company’s task is to inspire confidence that electric vehicles will be viable. “If we can give people convenient, easy-to-understand options, then that’s a step in the right direction,” he said.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...w=1599&bih=653

[Massive Attack]

This is a terrific installation

Eric Tischer's VW Passat EV Conversion

20,329 miles without gas since 4/18/2009




2011-03-01
I started my new job at Tesla motors! I'm now putting 85 miles a day on the Passat!

2010-11-15



Solyndra installs EV charging stations. I can charge at 5.5 miles per hour at work, and up to 12 miles per hour at home (using 230v). This means, after driving 24 miles, I can recharge in 2 hours. I recently made a J1772 adapter so I can charge at 208V from public charging stations.

New Top speed: 105 mph



http://etischer.com/awdev/minibms/trunk_s.jpg

[Massive Attack]

Professional looking from one end to the other

[ValveCoverGasket]

wow yeah really clean install

[BumpSteer]

Talk about having the right tool for the job!!!





Battery Cable



I used 4/0 gauge wire and crimp lugs. This should have a continuous rating of 380 amps, well above my 300 amp max motor rating. I'm glad I oversized my wires, especially when testing my prototype controller, there were a few instances my motor cables were warm.





Sweet crimper

This crimper has 6 Tons of crimping force.

[Bodacious]

Canada calls their version of the Electric Highway: The "Electric Circuit"

The Canadian province of Quebec has announced that Canada’s first public electric vehicle charging network will arrive in 2012.

The project, led by Hydro-Québec and partners RONA, les Rôtisseries St-Hubert, METRO and the Agence métropolitaine de transport, call it Canada’s “Electric Circuit.” Charging stations will be installed at the partners’ headquarters as well as at several AMT park-and-ride facilities.

The “Electric Circuit” will initially consist of about one hundred 240-volt charging stations, to be rolled out gradually (to accommodate for gradual adoption of EVs, of course). Four-hundred volt “quick-charge” stations will be deployed in 2012.

It starts in the metropolitan areas of Montréal and Québec; if successful, it will be extended to other cities and sites in the province. Still, officials see public charging to comprise just 20 percent of the places drivers will recharge; the other 80 percent will be a mixture of home and work.

Charging will cost a flat fee of about $2, which will include the cost of the electricity and access to a prime parking spot. Locations will be chosen based on ease of access, the companies said.

The stations themselves will be tested in a climate-control chamber at Hydro-Québec’s research institute to ensure they can stand up to the region’s bitterly cold weather.

Hydro-Québec will provide a charging station locator service and CAA Quebec will provide 24/7 telephone support.

[Sledge]

Canada calls their version of the Electric Highway: The "Electric Circuit"

That'll be a hell of a lot cheaper than the doomed Hydrogen Highway in California. Not to mention actually doable.

[Bazooka]

April 2011
Largest test program of electric cars in Canada: Hydro-Québec announces the thirteen companies selected for the Boucherville 2nd phase

Hydro-Québec coordinates the largest program of test drives of electric vehicles in Canada. Up to 50 Mitsubishi i-MiEV will be tested over a period of three years to study the frequency of recharging, driving habits and vehicle integration to the grid. The data collected will be used by Hydro-Québec for the planning of the infrastructure of charging electric vehicles.

http://www.hydroquebec.com/electrifi...eo-i-miev.html

[BumpSteer]

Tennessee Vanderbilt Hotel

Federal grant money will pay for 2,500 devices in TN, most in homes
9:16 PM, Jun. 13, 2011

Nissan’s electric-vehicle-charging partner unveiled a charging station in Nashville on Monday at the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel, the first of a network of public chargers the company intends to have in place in Tennessee by the end of the year.

California-based ECOtality Inc. has a contract to install residential, commercial and public chargers in six states under the federally funded EV Project, which uses grant money to pay for the manufacture and installation of the devices.

By year’s end, ECOtality will have about 2,500 chargers installed in Tennessee, although most will be at the residences of people who have bought qualifying electric vehicles such as the new Nissan Leaf, the company said. The grant will pay for the chargers, which cost up to $2,000 each for a residential installation.

The Loews site has four chargers in the hotel parking garage in spaces marked for “Electric Vehicles Only,” and since they were turned on late last week, “We’ve already had two Leafs come in to recharge,” said Loews manager Tom Negri.

While there is no cost to use the Loews chargers, the garage’s parking rates run as high as $4 per half hour, so the chargers are most likely to be used by electric-vehicle drivers who are guests of the hotel, ECOtality officials said. Some local rental-car companies have placed orders for the Leaf, and it’s expected that some renters would be out-of-town visitors who would stay at hotels that have chargers available, said Stephanie Cox, ECOtality’s area manager for Tennessee.

Depending on the state of charge in a car such as the Leaf, the vehicle could be recharged at one of the company’s BLINK public chargers in one to three hours, she said. The company also will install fast chargers along the interstates connecting Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga to accommodate travelers. Those can top off a Leaf battery pack in a little more than a half-hour.

Operating a car such as the Leaf costs about 3 cents a mile under TVA’s current power rates, Ellis said.

Besides qualifying for free home chargers, early Leaf buyers can get up to $10,000 in federal and state tax rebates toward the car, which begins in the low $30,000s. The federal credit is $7,500, and there is a $2,500 Tennessee credit for the first 1,000 electric-vehicle buyers.

[Terandyne]

That EV Passat is something to behold

I spent about 30 hours installing BMS on my car over the weekend. I added a new Battery Management link in the navigation window.

The cells located under the car (where the gas tank used to be), behind the seat, and in the spare tire well, were impossible to access. I installed some din-rail mounted fuse holders in an easy to access location, now I can monitor and balance the cells remotely. The cell wiring is protected with 3 amp fuses (purple).

I made some plastic spacers so the BMS boards could be rigidly stacked.

[kasbah]

Charging Stations For Electric Cars Unveiled In Balboa Park


BY SASHA DOPPELT
June 16, 2011
Balboa Park is the proud new host of 10 electric-vehicle charging stations. The stations are the result of a year-long collaboration between the firm ECOtality and the City of San Diego, SDG&E, and others.




"Once we have a basic infrastructure in place this fall, San Diego will become the testing place for EVs," Sanders said. "We'll learn from drivers how we can improve the system and ultimately San Diego will serve as a model for other cities not only nationwide but worldwide."

ECOtality plans to install one thousand charging stations throughout San Diego by the end of the year.

It's free to charge your car in Balboa Park for the next month and a half, and will cost about $2.50 an hour after that. (The Park's Reuben H Fleet Science Center also hopes to add an electric vehicle exhibit soon.)

Electric car owners like Encinitas Deputy Mayor Jerome Stocks said they appreciate the convenience of charging stations away from home.

"Twelve-hundred miles roughly a month, and so far the bill hasn't exceeded $35 a month," Stocks, said. "So I'm liking the economies of this vehicle quite a bit. And that doesn't count the nice feeling that when you are sitting in traffic you actually know you are not contributing to the air pollution."

[Powderkeg]

Nissan testing the fast charge EV charger which can charge an electric in less than half an hour with a power of 400 volts and 30 amperes .

[Massive Attack]

East Coast version of living with an electric car

Two tales around a Mini-E

[mitcompressor]

http://blog.seattlepi.com/transporta...tric-vehicles/

AAA to offer roadside charging for stalled electric vehicles

With electric vehicles becoming more mainstream, AAA had some news this week to ease the “range anxiety” of battery-power converts.

The nation’s largest automobile association says it soon will roll out roadside assistance trucks with capability to recharge electric vehicles that run out of juice.

As part of a pilot program, the trucks will be available in Seattle and five other metropolitan areas, including Portland (Ore.), the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles, Knoxville (Tenn.) and the Tampa Bay area. They’ll be equipped with Level 2 and Level 3 charging capability and will be able to provide 10 to 15 minutes of charge time to stalled electric vehicles, which would allow the vehicle to drive three to 15 miles to a charging station.

“AAA has been a leader in addressing the needs of motorists for more than a century, and the introduction of mobile electric vehicle charging continues that tradition,” said Marshall L. Doney, AAA Automotive Vice President, in a news release. “As the electric vehicle market continues to emerge, AAA is ready to help alleviate some ‘range anxiety’ with the ability to provide a charge to electric vehicles on the roadside that gets drivers back on the go quickly.”

The all-electric Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt were introduced to the market in late 2010. Manufacturers estimate production by year-end to be a combined 40,000 vehicles with an additional 145,000 planned for 2012, according to AAA.

The Leaf’s 24-kilowatt hour lithium-ion battery packed beneath the floor can provide a maximum range of 100 miles on a single charge. But that depends on what options the driver is running, the road conditions, speeds, and the weather. According to early reports, new electric car driver are learning that once hit you hit “E” in an electric vehicle, you don’t have nearly as much time to refill as you do with a gasoline powered engine.

City and state leaders are trying to build out a network of fast-charging public stations where drivers can top off if needed. In addition to the EV project, Seattle received a $500,000 federal grant to install 50 charging stations on city properties. Twenty-six will be installed next year, with the first one at the Seattle Municipal Tower. King County also plans to install 200 charging stations at transit park-and-rides, van pool sites, and motor pool lots. This news from AAA should help give electric vehicle drivers more peace of mind.

Here’s more from AAA’s news release:

While these six areas are part of the initial pilot program, we’ve had tremendous interest from AAA clubs across the country to offer this service to their members, and we anticipate expanding the program to additional areas in the months following initial deployment, said John Nielsen, AAA Director of Auto Repair, Buying Services and Consumer Information during a news conference at Plug-In 2011.

Nielsen explained the pilot program will include AAA Roadside Assistance vehicles equipped with different technologies used to provide mobile charging capabilities to allow the motor club to evaluate multiple technologies in different environments around the country.

The AAA Roadside Assistance truck unveiled at Plug-In 2011 is powered by Green Charge Networks. It featured a removable lithium-ion battery pack for mobile charging. Other vehicles will be equipped with generators powered by alternative fuels and other power sources.

The truck is remarkably similar to AAA’s other light services vehicles a noted difference to mobile charging vehicles recently unveiled in other countries. Officials demonstrated how the truck is equipped to allow AAA’s technicians to provide traditional AAA Roadside Assistance capabilities to all motorists, such as battery testing, jump starts and replacements, tire changes, fuel delivery and lockout service.

[Powderkeg]

Electric-Car Makers’ Quest: One Plug to Charge Them All

QUICK FILL Nissan's Leaf comes with a socket for the Chademo fast-charging standard.

WITH electric cars and plug-in hybrids at last trickling into the showrooms of mainstream automakers, the dream of going gasoline-free is becoming a reality for many drivers. Cars like the Nissan Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt can cover considerable distances under electric power alone — certainly enough for local errands and even most daily commutes — while enabling their owners to shun gas stations.

Indeed, charging the car’s battery pack at home, or topping up at the office or shopping mall, will work fine for most drivers. But what about trips that are beyond the range of a single battery charge? Couldn’t a driver in need simply pull up to a charging kiosk and plug in for a rapid refill?

It’s not that simple.

Sure, there are already public charging stations in service, and new ones are coming online daily. But those typically take several hours to fully replenish a battery.

As a result, the ability for quick battery boosts — using a compatible direct current fast charger, the Leaf can refill to 80 percent capacity in 30 minutes — could potentially become an important point of differentiation among electric models.

But the availability of fast charging points has in part been held up by the lack of an agreement among automakers on a universal method for fast charging — or even on a single electrical connector. Today’s prevalent D.C. fast-charge systems are built to a standard developed in Japan by Nissan, Mitsubishi and Subaru in conjunction with Tokyo Electric Power.

Called Chademo, which translates roughly to “charge and move,” it uses a connector that is different from the plugs in most electric cars. As a result, a Chademo-compatible car like the Nissan Leaf requires two separate sockets.

Overcoming the limitation of a short driving range is vital to achieving acceptance by consumers who want uncompromised, do-everything vehicles. The potential solutions all have drawbacks. Larger batteries are expensive and saddle the car with added weight. An onboard generator turned by a gasoline engine, as used in the Volt plug-in hybrid and similar future models, are another possible solution, but such systems add cost and pounds — and compromise the emissions-free image that attracts consumers to electric cars in the first place.

Leisurely overnight recharging is no problem. All electric cars come with a standard charging cable that can plug into a common 120-volt household electrical outlet. More than just an extension cord, this cable incorporates various safety features.

“There is no energy flowing through the cord until the car talks to the box,” said Gary Kissel, an engineering specialist for General Motors, referring to the charging cord’s electronics. “It also has a G.F.C.I. and signals the car that the cable is connected, making it impossible for you to drive off if you forget that you’re plugged in,” he said, using the abbreviation for the safety provision known as a ground fault circuit interrupter.

The Leaf and the Volt, as well as future electric cars coming to the American market, can use these 120-volt cords interchangeably because they are all designed to the SAE J1772 standard. A task force assembled by SAE International, an organization of scientists and vehicle engineers, developed the design specifications for the J1772 standard through a committee of 150 carmakers, electrical equipment makers and utilities.

Other groups, including the American National Standards Institute, are also working on standards and codes for electric cars.

Charging an electric car on a 120-volt circuit, called Level 1 charging, is undeniably slow. The Volt requires about 10 hours to fully charge on 120 volts and the Leaf, with its larger battery, needs closer to 20 hours. For plug-in hybrids, which generally have smaller batteries, Level 1 charging works for overnight and at-work refills, but pure electrics need something stronger.

That next step, called Level 2 charging, uses a 240-volt circuit. Typically, this charging cable is not portable; instead, it’s hard-wired to a garage or charging station, though the actual charger is built into the car. These higher-voltage cables also cost extra — about $2,000, the majority of which goes to the installation.

“This is the type of charger we’ll be seeing in parking lots,” said Nancy Gioia, director for global electrification at Ford Motor. “The hardware on 120 volts won’t provide enough incremental range to satisfy customers.”
Multimedia

Slide Show
In Search of a Standard
With a 240-volt unit, the Leaf can recharge a depleted battery in less than eight hours and the Volt can do it in about four. These chargers use the same SAE J1772 connection

As you might expect, with electric cars just starting to reach volume production these chargers are not yet common. Level 2 charging stations are planned for each of Nissan’s 1,100 dealers, but the Web site carstations.com lists only about 1,350 charging stations of all types scattered across the 50 states, mostly in California and the Northeast. The Leaf’s navigation system can display nearby charging locations.

In the long term, however, commercial chargers will proliferate, especially as private companies get into the business. Among these is NRG, a power utility, which announced in April that it would install 120 Level 2 charging stations in Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth by the end of 2012. NRG will charge fixed monthly fees to use the stations, with a three-year contract. For unlimited usage the rate is $89 a month, or $1,068 a year — the equivalent of 7,000 miles in a car that gets 25 m.p.g. with gas costing $4 a gallon.

The NRG charging stations will incorporate not only Level 2 chargers, but also D.C. fast chargers. Fast chargers have complex hardware — a permanent installation, not an onboard system — that requires a connection to 480-volt three-phase alternating current. Sensitive circuitry is needed to convert this high-voltage A.C. power into direct current without frying the car’s battery. As you might expect, such chargers are expensive — at least $20,000 for the charger and another $20,000 for the installation.

The payoff is the ability to charge a Leaf’s battery to 80 percent capacity in half an hour, compared with six hours on a Level 2 charger or roughly 15 on a Level 1. Or put another way, 10 minutes on a D.C. fast charger can add about 30 miles of range.

The SAE committee is working on a modification of the J1772 connector to incorporate this high-powered D.C. charging as well as the existing Level 1 and 2 charging in a single connector.

“BMW prefers the SAE 1772 approach to having a single connector,” said Rich Steinberg, manager for electric vehicle operations and strategy at BMW North America, echoing the view of many carmakers.

The revised J1772 prototype will not be ready until this fall, according to the Peter Byk of SAE, and the final version is unlikely to be ready until late 2012.

At least in the view of the Leaf’s maker, there is no disaster in the offing.

“A Chademo charger could conceivably be reconfigured as an SAE charger,” said Mark Perry, product planning director at Nissan North America. “It could even have both plugs to accommodate all electric vehicles.”

As the only fast-charging game in town for now, 17 Chademo-type fast chargers, manufactured by AeroVironment of California, will be installed on Interstate 5 from the southern border of Oregon to the northern border of Washington this year. The plan is to eventually extend them all the way to the southern border of California.

Still, the experience will have its shortcomings. Consider a Nissan Leaf that can go about 70 miles at highway speeds on a full charge. At the 80 percent charge delivered by a fast chargers, that drops to 56 miles, which you’d cover in 48 minutes at 70 m.p.h. That means travelers would spend as much time charging as they would driving.

To match the convenience of a conventional car on the highway will require a combination of much greater electrical range with an even faster charging time, neither of which is around the corner. But for urban use, each new charger installation will improve the utility of all electric cars.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/au...ted=2&_r=1&hpw

[Massive Attack]

some of the approaches to plugs

Chademo and Level 2 charging sockets in a Nissan Leaf.

The Smart ED's SAE J1772 socket, which accommodates Level 1 and Level 2 charging.

The Chevrolet Volt is designed to the SAE J1772 standard.

[BumpSteer]

A J1772 plug for the Nissan Leaf.

followup:

The proposed SAE Combo Coupler for Level 2 and D.C. fast charging. The revised J1772 prototype will not be ready until this fall, and the final version is unlikely to be ready until late 2012.

17 fast chargers, manufactured by AeroVironment of California, will be installed on Interstate 5 from the southern border of Oregon to the northern border of Washington this year. The plan is to eventually extend them all the way to the southern border of California.

[lojasmo]

While I'm all for this, if the gov't is going to push this through, we need more nuclear power. Clean and cheap and coal/oil free. Oh yeah and it's safe too, as long as you keep tsunamis away from it.

3 mile island called. It would like to speak with you.

[Terandyne]

On a related note:

Portland Plans for Transit All Powered by Electricity

FULLY COVERED A new solar-powered charging station in Portland, Ore., can also supply power to the electrical grid

PORTLAND, Ore. To drivers passing by on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the structure rising above the parking lot is mostly unremarkable. But to the eco-elites who gathered in this green-leaning city in June for its unveiling, it represented a blueprint for the filling station of the future.

The roof of the 12-foot-tall steel canopy, built by EV4 Oregon, is covered with solar cells that generate power for a pair of ECOtality Blink Level 2 electric-vehicle chargers at the base. The facility is connected to the electrical grid, so any excess electricity from the solar cells can be sent to the local utility.

The canopy is more than just a sunny-day design: other installations will include an underground bank of batteries to store electricity for distribution after dark. As the electric vehicle population grows, more canopies can be added to create a covered parking lot.

“This is the future, my friends, and it will make a difference,” said Jeff Cogen, chairman of the Multnomah County Commission and one of several dignitaries to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Hopefully, in 20 years, we can look back and say, ‘I remember when these were introduced.’ ”

With major automakers like General Motors and Nissan now selling plug-in vehicles, charging stations like this one are seen as a vital element in persuading drivers to adopt zero-pollution cars. Without a convenient place to replenish batteries away from home, electric cars would be a hard sell for consumers.

And finally coming online after years of false starts and schedule delays — even in a city that presents itself as a hub for all things electric — these chargers are a welcome sign that the logjams holding back the acceptance of electric cars may at last be breaking up.

Rather than just promote electric vehicles and the installation of charging spots, a coalition of government officials, carmakers, academics and local utilities is trying to integrate all forms of electric transportation into the city.

“Electric vehicles are just a part of the way we’re going to make cities smarter and more efficient,” said Deena Platman, a transportation planner at Metro, the regional planning agency. “It’s the next evolution in sustainability in the city.”

In many ways, electric vehicles are a good fit in Portland. The city is compact enough that the average day’s driving of most households, about 20 miles, is easily covered on a single battery charge. Three-quarters of the state’s residents live along the Interstate 5 corridor between Portland and Eugene, two hours south. Oregon also relies heavily on hydroelectric power, which produces no direct carbon emissions.

Portland has a dense street-car and light-rail network, and the city has the country’s highest per-capita ownership of Toyota Prius hybrids, according to George Beard, a manager in the Office of Research and Strategic Partnerships at Portland State University.

Portland’s embrace of all things electric is one reason why Toyota chose it as one of the cities where it is testing its new plug-in hybrid Prius, which is expected to be introduced in 2012. Green Lite, a local start-up, is creating a plug-in hybrid prototype that it says gets 100 miles per gallon. Eaton, an automotive supplier and infrastructure company, plans to build fast chargers at its plant in Wilsonville, south of Portland.

“Eaton Corporation is working to expand the electric vehicle charging infrastructure and ensure that drivers of these vehicles have the peace of mind they need when commuting,” said Tom Schafer, vice president and general manager of Eaton’s Commercial Distribution Products Division.

These and other companies in Oregon are trying to tackle a key challenge to the electrification of the vehicle fleet: how to install enough chargers so drivers can get past their concerns of finding charging stations away from home.

Installing a charger in a homeowner’s garage is relatively straightforward. Putting chargers on public property is more complex. Who, for example, will install and maintain the chargers? How much will the electricity cost? Who is responsible if pedestrians trip over electric cords? How much should electric vehicles pay to park at chargers?

“The issues are insane,” said Mark Gregory, an associate vice president of finance and administration at Portland State University, which is part of the coalition studying various issues. “In two years, we hope to answer these questions.”

One laboratory for exploring these issues is a short walk from Mr. Gregory’s office. A one-block stretch of downtown, nicknamed Electric Avenue, was conceived as an oasis for all types of electric vehicles, and a vision of how these vehicles can fit into a broader transportation system. Indeed, the avenue runs adjacent to a transit mall on Sixth Avenue where buses, street cars and the light-rail network converge, making it a vibrant hub for residents on their way to work, class or a shop or restaurant.

Electric Avenue’s power lines, buried under the street, will provide the electricity for eight chargers made by seven different companies. Drivers pay normal parking rates, and the electricity for their vehicles is free, subsidized for two years by Portland State University. In all, the installation cost about $80,000.

“We are trying to figure out how to meld it into the urban landscape,” said Mr. Beard of Portland State, which spearheaded the Electric Avenue project with the city and Portland General Electric, the local utility. “We want to capture data on vehicles and chargers and gauge the public’s interest.”

The findings from the Electric Avenue study will complement a $100 million federally financed project to install 1,100 public chargers around the state. About 100 of the chargers have been installed, though the project is about a year behind schedule.

The ultimate goal, though, is to make available more of the direct-current fast chargers that will replenish a battery in half an hour or less. A handful already exist in Portland, and the Oregon Department of Transportation has chosen AeroVironment, of Monrovia, Calif., to install another 22 of these fast chargers. But because there is not yet a uniform standard for their plugs, their introduction has been slower.

At least in Portland, where the appetite for electric vehicles is strong, the fast chargers cannot come soon enough.

“We’re idled at the green light of opportunity,” Mr. Beard said.

[TopDown_]

UK version of the "electric highway"

The charging point at South Oak Way, Green Park, Reading - Junction 11 of the M4 motorway - represents the first charging post to receive power directly from a wind turbine. As other Ecotricity wind turbines are located in remote areas, the Green Park installation is also likely to remain unique for some time to come. The turbine - which has an 85 meter hub height and a 70 meter rotor diameter - has been turning since 2005 and is said to generate some 3.5 million electricity units per annum. Energy flows directly from the wind turbine to the charge post, after being converted to the correct amperage en route.

"The Green Park top-up point is connected to the windmill side of the substation, so all the power for it genuinely comes straight from the Green Park windmill as it turns at that moment," says Cheshire. "It's also topped up with a solar panel on the top of the post. On the rare occasions that the windmill isn't turning at all, the energy needed will be made at our wind/solar parks elsewhere on a 'like for like' basis, so will still come from Ecotricity's own green sources."

[Jesarray]

The UK's project

The biggest problem which faces electric car owners is the lack of recharging points. Now, for first time electric vehicles will be able to travel the length and breadth of Britain using the world's first national charging network at motorway service stations across the country.

Each charging station will be powered with 100% green energy created by leading UK green power company Ecotricity's wind and solar parks across the UK, and means that electric car drivers (and electric motorcycle riders) will be able to drive from London to Scotland completely free and with vastly reduced emissions.

This breakthrough in electric car infrastructure removes one of the main barriers for people wanting to buy electric cars - range anxiety - which currently restricts people to driving within their own city.

The first 'top-up zone' is open now at Welcome Break's South Mimms services just north of London, along with two other charging points, and the first phase of the network spread across 12 motorway services will be completed by September. Each post will be located outside the main entrance, with two sockets that can be accessed by registering for a free swipecard. Within 18 months all 27 Welcome Break motorway services will have charging points.



Electric cars can top-up in just 20 minutes using rapid recharge points (32 Amp supply) or fully charge in two hours; while those using the slower (13 Amp supply) will be able to recharge fully if staying overnight at motorway service hotels.

Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity, said, "Until now, charging posts have all been in city centres like London, but this is where you need them the least. Statistics show that it's not in towns and cities where electric cars need to recharge, but on longer journeys between cities - and that means motorways.

We're creating the infrastructure to get Britain's electric car revolution moving. This marks the beginning of the end for the old combustion engine. With world oil prices going through the roof, you'll now be able to get around Britain using only the power of the wind. It costs 1p (2 cents) a mile in an electric vehicle, compared with 10p (20 cents) in a petrol car (at today's oil prices).

We consume 25 million barrels of oil every year in the UK to do the 250 billion miles we drive every year. But we could power all that with 10,000 of today's windmills, or just 5,000 of tomorrow's."



Rod McKie, CEO of Welcome Break, said, "We are very excited about working with Ecotricity. There is no doubt that the electric car will arrive on Britain's motorways and Welcome Break wants to be at the forefront of giving the modern motorist what they want, when they want it. As hybrid and electric cars become part of everyday life, Welcome Break will have the facility to fast-charge these cars, giving electric car drivers the opportunity to travel the length and breadth of the UK.

Welcome Break operate throughout the UK with locations as far afield as Scotland and down to the south-west and south-east of England, serving 80 million customers a year."

A driver doing a year's typical 12,000 miles of motoring could save almost 2000 pounds ($3,270) in petrol costs at today's prices, and save around 2500kg in CO2 emissions.

Electric car owners who want to register for a free swipe card can visit Ecotricity's website at www.ecotricity.co.uk/for-the-road.

[Jader Pack]

These are some pretty cool stories being posted. Anyone know what the cost of those little covered parking spaces with solar panels are?

[Wheelstand]

This is a terrific installation

He even put electric air conditioning in







http://etischer.com/awdev/

[rsj0714]

I am sure this has been covered before but how is the Tesla able to have almost 3 times the range as the leaf?

I am assuming since it is Tesla it involves much more expensive battery components?

[audifans]

I am sure this has been covered before but how is the Tesla able to have almost 3 times the range as the leaf?

I am assuming since it is Tesla it involves much more expensive battery components?

more expensive yes

From what I understand, they increased the energy density to increase range

The pack weighs 990 pounds, stores 56 kWh of electric energy, and delivers up to 215 kW of electric power. Tesla battery packs have the highest energy density in the industry. To achieve this energy density, Tesla starts with thousands of best-in-class Lithium-ion cells and assembles them into a liquid-cooled battery pack, wrapped in a strong metal enclosure.

[AZGolf]

I am sure this has been covered before but how is the Tesla able to have almost 3 times the range as the leaf?

I am assuming since it is Tesla it involves much more expensive battery components?

The Tesla has a 56 kw/h battery and the leaf has a 24 kw/h battery. So the battery alone has 2.33X as much capacity as the Leaf's. It's also lighter and has lower frontal area, thus less drag which helps give it more miles per KW/h.

[Barefoot_]

He even put electric air conditioning in







http://etischer.com/awdev/

very slick compressor installation there

[Buckaroo banzai]

I'm still waiting to see one of these out on the road.

[Powderkeg]

Tesla... sporty and lot of range