Fleet Briefing: Nissan Leaf, U.S. Army, Free EV Charging Stations in MA, CA and TX

by | Mar 1, 2012

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Nissan is now accepting orders for the 2012 Nissan Leaf in all U.S. markets.

The new launch phase means residents of 21 additional states will be able to buy the car, the only fully electric vehicle available on the national market.

The U.S. Army, Pacific, unveiled a fleet of 16 General Motors hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which military service branches in Hawaii will test for fuel efficiency research purposes. The vehicles – central to the Hawaii Hydrogen Initiative – were funded by the Army Tank Automotive Research Development Engineering Center (TARDEC), Office of Naval Research and Air Force Research Laboratories.

The test vehicles travel up to 200 miles on a single charge, refuel in five minutes and produce zero emissions. Data collected from the test program will be analyzed to make fuel cell technology practical in future operational platforms, the U.S. Army said.

Electric vehicle (EV) drivers traveling in the Massachusetts may access 30 new Coulomb ChargePoint charging stations – and recharge for free – at several host locations provided by Northeast utility National Grid, the utility and Coulomb announced.

National Grid and its hosting partners are offering the public charging services at no cost to EV drivers for a minimum of two years. The program will allow the utility to integrate EV charging into smart grid plans and monitor the EV charging load, National Grid said.

The National Grid charging stations were made available through Coulomb’s $37 million ChargePoint America program, of which $15 million is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

TXU Energy and the City of Dallas have powered up two new electric vehicle charging stations at Dallas City Hall to provide free EV charging for a year. The stations are the first of five publicly accessible stations in Dallas, as part of the TXU Energy EV Accelerator Program, the company and city said.

TXU Energy will fund the cost of the charging station equipment, infrastructure, installation, and the electricity used to power EVs for the first year at about 12 additional charging stations in Dallas and Fort Worth.  The locations and type of charging station equipment will be selected by each city, TXU Energy said.

EV infrastructure provider EV Connect has deployed six new publicly accessible EV charge stations in Sacramento. The stations are located near environmental employers including the California Air Resources Board, CalPERS, Sacramento Metro Air Quality Management District and West Sacramento’s California Fuel Cell Partnership, and at two other garages, EV Connect said.

The Clipper Creek SmartGrid-ready CS model charge station deployment received financial assistance from the California Energy Commission’s Reconnect California Grant. The program aims to help the city of Sacramento meet emission standards, and support the state’s recent clean car mandate, which will require one of every seven new cars sold in the state in 2025 to be a zero-emission vehicle, EV Connect said.

Photo: Nissan USA

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