San Francisco Bay Area gets $5 million for EV chargers, Detroit will charge $40 per month
By Sean Hollister 
posted August 12th 2010 2:04AM
posted August 12th 2010 2:04AM
posted August 12th 2010 2:04AM
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The era of the "new gas stations" has begun :D
@EnergyPigeon
Hopefully this tech will help us stop relying on the oil companies so damn much.
@EnergyPigeon and may soon end... Something about December 2012 gets my knickers in a twist...
@Rusty Shackleford Yeah, I saw that and I was like: "wait......" LOL
@EnergyPigeon
Too true. I can gas my car up for $40 a month. Where's the incentive to go electric?
Pass.
@EnergyPigeon
I think the new era will begin when there's a concerted effort to add electric charging to every single gas station that's up and running in the U.S. If we have that then electric vehicle production will skyrocket. Until then, car companies will be more hesitant to invest fully into electric without a robust infrastructure to support their investment.
It's kind of a catch 22. Without the infrastructure, car companies don't want to go all in on electric vehicles, but without the vehicles, it doesn't make much sense to install so many charging stations. If we want widespread adoption in 3 years instead of 15, one sector needs to ramp up dramatically now through subsidies to stem the losses that come with no use for several months and years. That's logically the charging stations. Put those up and as the cars roll out, they're ready to be driven anywhere.
@EnergyPigeon
I've said it once, and I'll say it again: this is some bullshit.
I spend less than $40 a month on gas, and these "buffet" plans where its all you can eat for a fixed price goes COMPLETELY against the whole concept of using LESS energy since it provides incentive to use as much as you can to get your money's worth.
Charge the same damn amount as the rest of my appliances, and if you want to help the industry, then simply subsidize the purchase and installation cost of the universal charger. Make it, say, $400 off, so there is also still incentive for the consumer to find the cheapest price for one and yet its still affordable.
@ravissimo
Eh, just my opinion, but I think your statement is backwards. Electric vehicles have been around almost since the cars invention. Look up info on the EV1, the 4runner and ford ranger ev's, were out less than a decade ago, and were all destroyed, even after lease drivers affored to pay outright for the EV1's, they were still destroyed. Imo, car companies dont want to sell ev's. Were are getting the same mileage 10 years ago, hell 20 yearz ago, that we are getting today out of ev's. I hope im wrong, but im not buying it.
@Gooch818
yes, i've heard of the EV1. I've posted on engadget before about how crazy GM is and how they shouldn't be praised for the chevy volt, because they killed the EV1, but it wasn't because of lack of demand. It's for financial reasons and ties to oil that they wanted to maintain and that's why they killed the EV1. The point is, if we have a national push, the car companies have an interest in making new electric vehicles because they still make money from it. It's the chevrons and shells that have an interest in stopping electric car innovation. They'd be cut out, and that's why the old electric vehicles were killed off.
Exactly. Makes a Toyota Prius look pratical now, heck even a beat up 1990 Honda Accord.
Everything cool happen in the SF Bay area. Product/gadget launches, tech startups, etc. Seriously time to move there.
@deusex Good luck finding a job there
@deusex
Everyone always want to live in other places, but when they get there, after a while, they think it's cooler to live somewhere else and want to move there. It's how life works, you want what you can't have, and when you get it, there's something else you want.
@ALBGunner04 Same thing happens with the girls... You have JLO but you want AngelinaJolie and vice verse
Colorado will use solar-powered chargers.
$40 a month - that's awesome. Electric vehicles are becoming more and more practical by the day, and that should continue.- cheaper batteries, quick charge stations that charge to 80 percent in 20 minutes, more reliable cars (less parts), more fun to drive (all torque available instantly), etc.
@Apple Fan
Indeed, 40$/month for unlimited fuel willsurely get the whole EV thing going for real in America! This is wonderful news.
@Apple Fan sure its reasonable to take 20 minutes to charge up your car if you have a 300+ miles per charge, but I can't imagine sitting around for 20 minutes every 40 miles... fully electric cars just aren't reasonable just yet.
@deepnorth $40 a month in Detroit?! You can buy a house for that much!
@schnoid
Every 40 miles? Where have you been hiding the last few years?
@deepnorth
He's referring to the chevy volt which only gets 40 miles per charge from its batteries. The difference is the chevy volt is meant to be a bridge from old technology to new. Anyone in any state can get the volt and not be worried about driving it across country whereas anyone with a tesla model s or a nissan leaf can only drive it within a certain radius of their homes. I'm not promoting the volt though. I think more companies should be going all electric. It's cheaper than combining both techs into one car which is why the volt is $10,000 more than it needs to be.
@Apple Fan Ur username is magical.
@schnoid Exactly! 40 miles to a 20 minute charge is ridiculous especially for a car that sales for $41K yet costs $80K to produce. And I am sure that 40 miles is non stop highway miles which doesn't exist in real life and real cities. I get 40 mpg on the highway in my 04 Civic that equals 400 miles on 10 gallons that takes a whopping 5 minutes to fill. To get 400 miles on electric only will require 3.5 plus hours of charging times. BTW, I work for a real auto company that didn't need bailing out of $50 billion. I'd say boycott Government Motors!
@rednano74, that's why the Volt comes with a range extender that can drive you over 300 miles. And for boycotting GM, you basically shit on your own investment. As better GM is doing as more money we as taxpayers will be getting back. Hurry up and make sure your next car is from GM so we can all profit before they file their IPO. Btw. they just announced a $1.3 billion profit for the second quarter.
BP might stand a chance at regaining customers if they installed one of these at every station. But then they would also be furthering their demise in the long run...
@WhiteNiteLite
I wouldn't want BP to produce electricity.. think something like Chernobyl...
@deepnorth
Yikes! True though. I take back my suggestion.
I wonder if the old electric charging stations already in california would work. There are still some left over from over a decade ago when California was testing EV's
My idea for EV's has been that you trade in your empty battery for a charged battery. so that way charging is a non issue, of course there'd have to be a way to quickly change batteries, but that's easily solved if most manufacturer's jumped on this. the idea of sitting in a gas station for half an hour doesn't appeal to me, but with switching batteries it works more like a gas tank(for cooking) than charging your phone. since you give them your battery and you take theirs the price will hopefully just be for the electricity.
@Chuuchdizzle
That has been discussed, but, at least for now, it is not practical because every automaker uses a different size battery that best suits the automobile. Eventually, it could work if batteries are standardized, but I don't think thats going to happen any time soon because with the relatively low energy density that the current batteries have, automakers design them to conform specifically to each vehicle for maximum capacity.
http://green.autoblog.com/2009/10/30/ford-dismisses-battery-swaps/
@Chuuchdizzle Also, batteries fill all spare space in the car, so it wouldn't be possible to swap out all the batteries at once. Another setback would be that some hold their charge better than other, and it would stink to have just purchased a car and then go through some "packs" that you get that don't hold the charge well. Then, how would you regulate the replacement of new packs, that would drive the cost of refueling up. Ultimately I think the tech works best charge your own sort of thing.
Besides charging doesn't/shouldn't take long they just need to move from stand-alone stations to stations at shopping centers or grocery stores and then you'll be there for longer than a fuel up anyways :)
"Gotta wonder how those grey states are feeling right about now. "
Here in Colorado... i seriously doubt most people are caring about electric cars (minus Boulder, of course). It takes so goddam long to get ANYWHERE in this state that charges just can't keep up with the reuirements.
'Gotta wonder how those grey states are feeling right about now.'
They all look grey to me.
@Faerie Tael lol, I was thinking the same thing.
Yay Florida! We never get anything first... EV charging station, decent concerts, plumbing...
A car that sales for $41K ($800 monthly payment with no money down) yet costs $80K to make will only get you 40 lousy miles on a forever long wait of a 20 minute charge at a monthly cost of $40? No wonder our government has to give welfare payments of $7500 to sale these suckers. So many idiots! The same non-electric car only costs $17K and it's roomier. Electric cars have been talked about and attempted for 100 years. There is no market for such or the government wouldn't have to subsidize everything - DUH! What happen to all the hype that the VOLT was going to get 300mpg or something like that? Remember that nonsense post here at Engadget?
@rednano7, The Volt does not compare to any other electric or hybrid car on the market. It can go over 300 miles with the internal range extender. No need to find an electric charging station to get to your destination. Read up on GM's Voltec http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_Voltec_platform
The purchase price seems high but that's why GM is leasing the car for $350.
@rednano74 your entire post if full of misinformation. are you an affiliate of the tea party by any chance?
What a waste. This is so useless. Obviously you can't fill up your car while you're shopping for two hours. These things take overnight -- at the very least -- to charge up.
We should be focusing on the compressed hydrogen technology that was successfully demonstrated by Honda's FCX clarity, which can be filled up in three minutes like any other gasoline-powered car. Having to wait 8hrs for a charge is a HUGE step back.
@Alex Level two and three charging units will fill a battery to 80% in under 30 minutes...
As a member of the dark grey state North Carolina I must say that I'm unfazed. Have a delightful day.
Why isn't anyone reporting that Detroit (Michigan) is ripping people off... because they're Detroit? For a person who drives 12,000 miles a year, the total cost to charge your Volt is between $15 and $20 per month. I highly doubt charging double for charging your car will be common practice.
So Nebraska and the Dakotas are going to end up with loads of electric cars that have run out of charge !
Buy electric but stick to the coast dammit !
I live in a gray state :(
good thing I don't have an electric car
I can charge my ipod?
The pushpin in Texas is too far East to be Austin. It can't be College Station, I haven't seen an all-electric pickup truck yet!
@mryuk there are plenty. Ford even built a ranger all-electric for a while. Converting an old toyota to electric is one of the easiest conversions because the batteries can be mounted under the bed.
Hm.. I used to spend about $40/mo with my camry on gas. I walk to work usually though, so I'm sure others spend more.
OK so lets sort this out. You all hate oil and oil companies. So we go to electric and we all buy electric cars.
1. You get to work. Now you have to search the parking lot for an open charge station. You find one and hook it up. Then go to your office. 30 minutes later you have to leave your office to the parking lot and move your car so someone else can use the charge station. If you don't get an available charge station you will have to find some way to know when it will be available. There may even be a daily wait list to get into a charge station. So all day long employees will be moving their cars in and out of the charge stations. What if you forget or don't get one. Will you be able to get home? Will you have to wait after work until your car is charged?
2. Now electric consumption has skyrocketed because everybody has to charge a car. Demand goes up so price goes up. Now instead of hating oil companies you hate power companies. There is only one way you will ever be able to provide enough electricity to charge the working force of America, coal. You will need to burn a lot more coal to satisfy electric car use. You will never, in our lifetime, be able to produce enough electric from any other source to satisfy the demand.
3. Our current electric grid will not be able to supply the increase in demand for electric cars. It will take a lifetime to get the grid where it needs to be.
Electric cars are a pipe dream. A lot of you will never admit that or accept it but it is the truth. Charging a car everyday sometimes more than once a day is an inconvenience the majority of people will not pay for. Maybe in 50 or 60 years or more.....hell...people complain because their smart phone has to charge everyday.
@hprox please. I refute you:
1. The Nissan Leaf will have an 80 mile minimum range. The average American commute is 16. So even if they forgot to charge it one night, they'd still get home without charging at work.
2. Even powering an electric car with COAL is better than driving a combustion engine to work.
3. If we quit spending BILLIONS UPON BILLIONS ON fossil fuels, maybe we'd have a little leftover for some wind/solar/thermal/tidal/biogas plants?