Who Are The EV Charging Station Players?

Reuters ^ | Nov 26, 2010 | Pete Danko

[Jet Jaguar]

ECOtality and Coulomb are the leaders in the emerging EV-charging market. They convinced the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) they were well-equipped to put a charging infrastructure in place quickly and gather important driving and charging data for the department about early EV users. In turn, the feds showered ECOtality with a $115 million grant to install, at no cost, around 15,000 charging stations in homes and public locations through the EV Project; Coulomb, meanwhile, got $37 million for a 4,600-charger program called ChargePoint America.

These aren't the only two companies making chargers. Nissan has partnered with AeroVironment to equip new Leaf buyers for $2,200, and GM hooked up with SPX Service Solutions, who will sell and install their charger for around the same price. And there are others. But why buy what you can get for free? If you have a garage or carport, with the EV Project and ChargePoint, free charging stations "should last through 2011, so it'll be a good year to buy a vehicle," Lowenthal said.

[Psycho_Bunny]

What a scam.

[KevinDavis]

Uh how long is going to take it charge the car??

[Noob1999]

Wow! I feel wonderful, I feel empowered. I feel green!

Just think how green I feel, just knowing that my tax dollars are funding a project to untether the gas pump hose to the coal fired electric plant hose!

What a wonderful global warming solution to the endangered polar bears having to swim a bit further to get to kill an endangered seal, within an endangered ocean.

We, the newly green, are redeemed!

I am so happy to have my tax dollars being wasted on such a grand scale!

[Jet Jaguar]

Four hours for a quick charge.

Walgreens Launching EV Charging Stations at 18 Locations in Texas
November 26, 2010 1:47:28 AM EST · by Jet Jaguar · 43 replies

slashgear ^ | Nov 18th, 2010 | By Evan Selleck

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2633205/posts

80 electric car charging stations planned in SC
November 22, 2010 11:31:35 AM EST · by Jet Jaguar · 20 replies
The Item ^ | Nov 22, 2010 | N/A

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2631286/posts

Raleigh opens stations for charging electric cars
November 26, 2010 12:30:47 AM EST · by Jet Jaguar · 62 replies
newsobserver.com ^ | Nov 25, 2010 | RAY MARTIN

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2633193/posts

[KevinDavis]

So I have to wait 4 hours to have the car recharge?? Thanks but no thanks..

[sionnsar]

Without some system to manage charging times, there will be fun times when enough houses on a pole transformer start charging simultaneously and blow out the transformer.

(I have no direct knowledge of this -- I simply hear it in the NIST-led Smart Grid development meetings, though I'll be attending the PEV group session during next week's meetings at Grid-Interop in Chicago. )

[RayChuang88]

The four-hour charge time is based on using 240 volt AC/80 ampere charging through the SAE J1772 connector, which is pretty much the de facto standard in North America and Japan. There is an even faster charging standard called CHAdeMO that will use the JARI Level 3 DC voltage connector, which will charge the batteries on a Nissan Leaf to full power in 30 minutes.

[Jet Jaguar]

Interesting. Let me know what you find out.

[Army Air Corps]

That is the quick charge.

[Jet Jaguar]

I have read the technology is in work for the 30 minute charger. But it’s not available yet. Perhaps 2013+.

[KevinDavis]

To me time is money... I drive 40 miles one way... So the building I work at is going to allow me to charge for free while I’m working or do I have to wait 4 hours for a quick charge and get home late.. Again thanks no thanks..

[sionnsar]

I have read the technology is in work for the 30 minute charger. But it’s not available yet. Perhaps 2013+.

Does it diminish battery life?

[Bean Counter]

No discussion about how many amps per charge these little jewels will eat up. For a 220 volt charger, an overnight charge every single day is going to add up pretty darn quickly, and it won’t take the installation of a swarm of these chargers to suddenly overwhelm the local neighborhood grid and fry transformers.

This is one way to force a massive upgrade in the electrical grid...

[Jet Jaguar]

I dunno. This article mentions the 30 minute charger but has no information on the battery life.

Charging stations coming up as Asheville readies for electric cars

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20101126/NEWS/311260044

[Orange1998]

The 8 hour charge will turn into a 12 hour charge. The car owner drops off at 5 pm and returns the next morning all the while hogging a charge spot. This makes for a convenient and free parking spot.

[Army Air Corps]

What is the source of the electricy? Magic electron pixies? Odds are that the majority of the elctricity is coming from burning fossil fuels. How is this “green” in the eyes of the ecomentalists? Will not the increase in the vehicles increase demand for electricity?

[KevinDavis]

They don't see things in the long picture.. They are going to have to allow more Nuclear Power Plants to be built..

Also how are they going to charge the consumer for the charging station??? By the kilowatt???

[sionnsar]

No discussion about how many amps per charge these little jewels will eat up. For a 220 volt charger, an overnight charge every single day is going to add up pretty darn quickly, and it won’t take the installation of a swarm of these chargers to suddenly overwhelm the local neighborhood grid and fry transformers.
This is one way to force a massive upgrade in the electrical grid...

What I hear in the Smart Grid meetings from folks associated with the electrical vehicle aspect is that one of these cars will on average roughly double a household's consumption of electricity -- which means a LOT more peak consumption.

One plan in development is some kind of communications between the "utilities" (grid-side of the meter) and the charging stations (consumer-side of the meter) to level out the charging peak loads on the transformers.