Electric Vehicle Charging Stations are Here

Electric cars can soon be driven without the worry of running out of juice. 16 cities within 6 states deploy 15,000 charging stations.

On August 5, 2009, ECOtality North America, a subsidiary of ECOtality, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECTY) and a leader in clean technology, was awarded a $99.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to embark on this much needed EV (Electric Vehicle) project. The project was officially launched on October 1, 2009 and will last approximately 36 months.

On June 16, 2010, ECOtality announced an expansion of the EV Project to include the cities of Los Angeles, CA and Washington, D.C. For this expansion, the project was granted an additional $15 million by the U.S. Department of Energy. With the partner match, the total value of the project is now approximately $230 million.

The six states include Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, DC.

With Nissan North American and General Motors/Chevrolet partnering with this project, drivers of the Nissan LEAF zero-emissions electric car and the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid will be provided with a free residential charger, and most, if not all, of the costs of the installation will be paid for by the EV Project.

The project will collect and analyze data to characterize vehicle use in diverse topographic and climatic conditions. They will evaluate the effectiveness of these charging stations, and conduct trials of various revenue systems for commercial and public stations. The ultimate goal of the EV project is to take the lessons learned from the deployment of these first EV charging stations in order to streamline the deployment of the next 5,000,000 EV stations.

In 2010, charging stations will be deployed in the following major population areas: Phoenix (AZ), Tucson (AZ), San Diego (CA), Los Angeles (CA), Portland (OR), Eugene (OR), Salem (OR), Corvallis (OR), Seattle (WA), Nashville (TN), Knoxville (TN) and Chattanooga (TN), Washington D.C., Dallas (TX), Fort Worth (TX), and Houston (TX).

ECOtality is a leader in clean electric transportation and storage technologies that address the world’s global energy challenges. This innovative company identifies inventive ways to efficiently power our lives while striking a harmonious balance with our natural environment. Through a balance of technology development, partnerships and strategic acquisitions, ECOtality achieves revenue growth through increasing their market presence as they strive to accelerate the market applicability, awareness and acceptance of clean technologies.

ECOtality’s Electrical Vehicle (EV) Project manager will share the progress of this project at EngEx 2010 Conference & Exhibition along with San Diego Gas & Electric. This keynote session will be delivered by Ray Hobbs, Director of Product Education, of ECOtality and by Joel Pointon, Manager of Electric Transportation from San Diego Gas & Electric.

EngEx 2010 conference & exhibition is being held at the San Diego Convention Center from July 29 to 31st. EngEx focuses on energy, water, infrastructure, and environmental technologies. The goal of EngEx is to bring engineers, business leaders, entrepreneurs, government agencies, students, professors, and researchers together to collaborate about practical solutions that address today's energy, water, infrastructure, and environmental concerns and to help revive the economy. EngEx exhibition will also feature 10 alternative fuel vehicle’s including the Tesla.

Additionally, EngEx offers over 30 workshops over three-days between government and private sector to provide access to over $500 billion dollars given annually in government contracts, grants, exports and financing. More information is available at www.engexpo.com.

Kate Hagen
30111 Technology Drive, Suite 150
Murrieta, CA 92563
951.225.4566 X109
media@engex.org

This release was published on openPR.