Charging station
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Electric car charging stations might be coming down in price, but a team of enthusiasts have now successfully completed the first tentative charging cycles of a 2011 Nissan Leaf using a completely home-built charging station. Started as a weekend project in response to the high prices charged by electric vehicle charging equipment manufactures, the project has produced a prototype unit capable of charging an electric car at both 120V level 1 and 240V level 2 rates. When electronics hobbyist and electric car fan Chris Howell started the project back in February this year, he was one of the...
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Fisker Karma Electric-Car Charging Stations Have EV1 Roots
When you buy an electric car, you will most likely need a charging station. As buyers start to bring home plug-in cars, they will also expect their dealer to help them acquire and install a 240-Volt charging station (technically known as an EVSE, though few people call them that). Startup Fisker...
John Voelcker -
Want a $500 Electric Car Charging Station? So Does the DoE
If you’re in the market for an Electric car you’ll know that besides the obvious financial burden of paying for the car itself you probably want to budget a few thousand dollars extra to account for the installation of a dedicated electric car charging station in your home. At the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Clipper Creek Unveils Smallest Electric Car Charging Station yet
Well-established charging station manufacturer Clipper Creek has just unveiled what it claims is the smallest electric vehicle charging station currently available on the market. Costing $995 and weighing in at 7 pounds, the Clipper Creek LCS-25 unit looks like the portable 110V level 1charging...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Need To Recharge An Electric Car? Check The Charging Station First
One of the liberating benefits to owning an electric car is the ability to plug in and charge up wherever there happens to be a purpose-built charging station, or indeed a standard domestic power outlet. But while most of the electric cars on sale in the U.S. today comply with the J1772 standard of...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
U.S. Carmakers To Japan: Don't Need Your Stinkin' Fast-Charge
So you bought a 2011 Nissan Leaf, and paid for the optional $700 quick-charge connector. Now you're able to get an 80-percent battery recharge in just 30 minutes, albeit from very few places right now. Promising, right? Not so fast, sonny. It appears that U.S. makers of electric cars are likely to...
George Parrott -
Uh oh, here we go again. Or not? The crew of the British car show Top Gear have been spotted in the British town of Lincoln, traveling in a pair of electric cars, the 2011 Nissan Leaf and a Peugeot iOn (which will be sold in the States as the 2012 Mitsubishi 'i'). Hosts Jeremy Clarkson and James May are sufficiently big celebrities in their home country that the sighting merited a photo story in the local newspaper. The pair had visited Lincoln seeking recharging stations for the pair of electric cars, which they were attempting to drive across the U.K. As the newspaper noted, "unfortunately...
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What Good Is Fast-Charging For Electric Cars If It's Closed?
Vacaville, California, has the distinction of the very first public Level 3 or DC quick charging station for electric cars to be installed in the United States. It was first activated in late May 2010, and was used very soon after for a small fleet of Mitsubishi i-MIEV models to make a trip from...
George Parrott -
The Father Of 'Christine' Likes His Chevy Volt Electric Car
Who knew? Stephen King, creator of perhaps the most malevolent car ever envisioned--Christine, the homicidal 1958 Plymouth Fury of both novel and movie fame--is an electric car fan. In particular, he loves the family's 2011 Chevrolet Volt, the range-extended electric vehicle that plugs in to...
John Voelcker -
Why Californians Need A Parking Permit To Charge Electric Cars
No one knows the ins and outs of electric-car usage like the early adopters, especially those who've already taken delivery of a 2011 Nissan Leaf or a 2011 Chevrolet Volt. (Or both.) So when a thread on required parking permits to recharge electric cars erupted in our recent article on the opening...
John Voelcker -
Electric-Car Charging Stations Pop Up All Over, Hotels Included
While AllCarsElectric posts are regularly written from at least three countries, occasionally we get to cover electric-car events in our own back yard--specifically, Palo Alto, California. On Friday, we attended a ceremony to inaugurate the first electric-car charger installed at any hotel in very...
John Voelcker -
Is Your City Ready For Electric Vehicles?
Ford has identified the 25 most electric vehicle (EV) ready cities in the U.S., based on the company’s latest research. The 25 cities are dotted all over the country from Hartford to Honolulu. A previous Pike research report highlighted 6 cities expected to be early EV adopters: New York, Los...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
NRG Energy has opened its first eVgo direct-current electric vehicle charging station in Dallas, Texas, as part of a privately funded 70-station network in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, the company announced. The chargers are designed to be “fast-chargers,” which use a 480-volt direct electrical current to charge an electric vehicle enough to drive 30 miles in less than 10 minutes. NRG Energy also plans to open stations that feature a 240-volt Level 2 charger that gives an electric vehicle enough charge to go 25 miles in an hour. Electric vehicles have been criticized for their lack...
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Siemens Inductive Charging Testing Begins In Berlin With BMW
German electronics company Siemens is set to begin field trials of an inductive charging system, in partnership with BMW. Inductive charging is a popular concept for charging away from home - it allows for charging without trailing cables and plugs around, and without requiring charging posts...
Antony Ingram -
Nissan: Electric Car Goal Only Possible With Governmental Help
President Obama’s goal of 1 million hybrid and electric vehicles on the roads of the U.S. by 2015 may sound like a tall order given the slow sales rollout of plug-in cars for the first few months of 2012, but as we’ve discovered before, it isn’t impossible. Now Nissan, makers of...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Need a Place to Charge Your Electric Car? Just Google It
In the connected world of modern electric vehicles your car probably already knows where the nearest charging point is. But what happens if you’re planning a long trip and want to acquaint yourself with the area around a charging point before you go? Enter Google and its online map tools...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Electric-Car Battery Packs Irresistible To Rampaging Rodents?
Anyone who's stored a car in a rural area has heard stories of the chaos wreaked by nesting squirrels. Engine compartments stuffed with leaves, twigs, nuts, and even entire furry families can cause overheating and sometimes fires. But now a new peril has come to light against which electric-car...
John Voelcker -
Electric Car Charging Station Gets Smart, Networks With Home
Imagine a future where your electric car could talk to your home and chose the best time to charge itself based on use predictions, electricity costs and home energy demands. Except it is no-longer the future. Announced today as part of a joint venture between ECOtality, Inc., and Cisco Systems...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
You’ve ordered your electric car and like many, you’ve been put off by the seemingly extortionate quote given to install a level 2 electric charging station at your home. As we’ve discussed before, sourcing your own Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) can save you hundreds of dollars on the cost of preparing your home for your electric car, but an increasingly large number of budget-priced, so-called EVSE charge stations which are not what they appear to be. As regular visitors to the MyNissanLeaf discussion forum may have noticed, some owners have purchased equipment...
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Sprint To Connect Ecotality’s Electric-Car Chargers Nationwide
Electric car charging company Ecotality announced today it has partnered with Sprint to its electric car charging stations. The partnership will make stations searchable on GPS and will enable billing services and the ability to track data on charging habits. This is one of many examples in recent...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
Washington State Pioneers Electric-Car Scenic Tourism Route
The Pacific Northwest is a remarkably scenic corner of the continental United States. The striking coastal ranges of Washington and Oregon offer dramatic vistas, temperature (if often damp) weather, and dozens of outdoor activities within a few hours' drive. Now those drives can be done in electric...
John Voelcker -
Smart Grid’s Silver Spring To Unveil Prius Charging Technology
In the latest example of the opportunities created by the rollout of electric vehicles, smart grid networking player Silver Spring Networks announced it will unveil a prototype tomorrow of a charging station enabled with its technology for the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid (pictured). The...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
Five Tips to Save Money on Your Home Electric Car Charge Point
Let’s face it: the end of the holiday season is financially tough. After spending what may seem like a small fortune on gifts for your family and friends the last thing you want to do is spend money on a costly electric charging point for your plug-in car. Of course, it is technically...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Will Charging Infrastructure Be Speed Bump For Electric Cars?
This year — and next — will be a busy one for arrival of electric cars. The Ford Focus Electric and Coda’s sedan are slated for launch by 2011. The Nissan Leaf is slowly making its way to buyers in the U.S. and Europe, the Wheego Whip and LiFe are on sale in New York, and the...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat