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AeroVironment to light up I-5 with EV chargers, add 'Oregon Trail' to the Green Highway
Retire your oxen and sell your wagon, the Oregon Trail just went electric. Okay, not the real, historic Oregon Trail, but a respectable 150-mile stretch of Interstate Five. The Oregon Department of Transportation is teaming up with AeroVironment to dot an undisclosed number of 480-volt Level 3 chargers between the California / Oregon state border and the Willamette Valley area as part the West Coast Green Highway initiative. The project aims to cover the entire I-5 corridor with electric vehicle chargers, spanning from the tip toe of the Golden State, all the way up to Washington's hat. Oregon's leg of the project should be ready for drivers this fall, making roadtrips to the Beaver State accessible to EV owners -- dysentery free. Hit the break for dry, but factual press release.
Washington State to put quick chargers on scenic byway, allow tourists to top-up their EVs
A few weeks back we learned that the US would be getting 310 quick-charging CHAdeMO stations, 480V AC/DC converters that can get a Nissan Leaf to 80 percent charge in under 30 minutes. Most are destined for major metropolitan areas, but we were intrigued to find out that Washington State is going to put two or three of them out in the country, on a 120 mile scenic portion of Route 2 that runs over the Cascade Mountains. It's a popular tourist destination and, with EVs becoming more popular in the area, soon even tourists with cutting-edge transportation to enjoy the ride. After all, everybody likes a good view.
CHAdeMO EV quick-chargers to get wider tests across US, 80% capacity in 30 mins or less
The idea of waiting around for hours for your EV to recharge is soon to become a thing of the past -- or rather it already is in Japan, where the CHAdeMO-style chargers are enabling cars like the Nissan Leaf to get to 80 percent battery capacity in just 30 minutes. Now they're properly starting their US invasion. The first assault came in Portland a few months back, with 310 more stations lining up for deployment in Arizona, California, Texas, Tennessee, Oregon, and elsewhere in Washington according to Yomiuri. The move will cost about $230 million total, though there's no word on whether they'll be publically available like the one in Portland is. CHAdeMO, which is a play on the Japanese "O cha demo ikaga desuka" ("let's have tea while charging"), works by handling the AC to DC conversion externally and providing power at up to 500VDC and 125 Amps, much higher than on-board AC/DC converters can handle. This drives down recharging time massively -- even if you don't like tea.
