Free home charging for EV pioneers
The first several thousand buyers of GMs Volt, Nissans Leaf and Fords electric Transit Vans are all going to be eligible for free home-charging stations under a program sponsored by the Department of Energy.
The 240-volt charging stations will be provided by two companies and will allow owners to recharge their vehicles faster.
The chargers will be networked, allowing the Energy Department to study electric vehicle charging and usage, and ultimately to understand what is required to bring more electric vehicles to market. In total, the Energy Department is awarding federal grants to help install more than 15,000 home and public charging stations at a savings of $1,000 to $2,000.
The first 4,700 GM Volt buyers will be eligible for the chargers as will the first 4,000 Nissan Leaf buyers and 5,000 Ford electric Transit Van buyers when the vehicles come to market this year.
Coulomb Technologies and ECOtality are the two companies providing the charging systems. ECOtality won a $100 million federal grant last August to build home and public charging stations in five major markets: Phoenix and Tucson, Seattle, Portland, Salem, Corvallis and Eugene, San Diego and Nashville.
Coulomb Technologies is offering free public and home charging stations in nine regions as part of a $37 million program. They include: Austin, Texas; Detroit; Los Angeles; New York; Orlando, FL; Sacramento, CA; the San Jose/San Francisco Bay Area; Redmond, WA; and Washington, D.C.
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