Nissan supports electric vehicle & infrastructure deployment project

Among the programs in todays $2.4 billion grants program to jump start electric vehicle business in the U.S. is an entry for Electric Transportation Engineering Corp. which says “ETEC and its partner Nissan will demonstrate up to 5,000 Nissan electric vehicles with a 100 mile range and deploy up to 12,500 Level 2 and 250 Level 3 chargers“. They are of course referring to the LEAF. The level 2 chargers are the normal 220 volt chargers with an 8 hour charge time, while the level 3 chargers are the high powered ones with a 30 minute charge time.

Out of the 150,000 or so LEAF’s Nissan expects to build up to 5,000 are to be delivered to this program. Pretty good for Nissan.

The project is not just to deliver cars. It “will collect and analyze data characterizing vehicle use in diverse topographies and climate conditions, evaluate the effectiveness of charging infrastructure, and conduct trials of various revenue systems for commercial and public charging infrastructure“.

eTec already performs a lot of vehicle testing some of which is in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity (AVTA). Don Karner, President of eTec, suggests that for the smooth deployment of the next 5 million electric vehicles the deployment of the first 5000 must be closely studied.

The Project will collect and analyze data to characterize vehicle use in diverse topographic and climatic conditions, evaluate the effectiveness of charge infrastructure, and conduct trials of various revenue systems for commercial and public charge infrastructure. With the goal of developing mature charging environments, the Project proposes to deploy charging infrastructure in major population areas that include Phoenix (AZ), Tucson (AZ), San Diego (CA), Portland (OR), Eugene (OR), Salem (OR), Corvallis (OR), Seattle (WA), Nashville (TN), Knoxville (TN) and Chattanooga (TN). To support the Nissan EV, the Project will install approximately 12,500 Level 2 (220V) charging systems and 250 Level 3 (fast-charge) systems.

For more info:

NISSAN SUPPORTS ELECTRIC VEHICLE & INFRASTRUCTURE DEPLOYMENT PROJECT

ECOtality’s eTec Awarded $100 Million for Transportation Electrification

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About David Herron

David Herron is a writer and software engineer living in Silicon Valley. He primarily writes about electric vehicles, clean energy systems, climate change, peak oil and related issues. When not writing he indulges in software projects and is sometimes employed as a software engineer. David has written for sites like PlugInCars and TorqueNews, and worked for companies like Sun Microsystems and Yahoo.