Green Fleet Roundup: Volvo, ECOtality, Evatran, Enmark

Volvo Car Corporation is testing a fast-charger for electric cars that cuts recharging time to 1.5 hours — six times faster than existing on-board devices, according to the company. The new 22kW charger will be installed and evaluated in a number of Volvo C30 Electric cars. Car owners can either use a three-phase outlet with 32A that gives an 80 km range in 30 minutes – a full charge takes 1.5 hours – or plug into an ordinary single-phase 230 V household outlet for a charging time of eight to 10 hours, depending on the available current.

ECOtality has surpassed 1 million EV residential charge events at its Blink Chargers, making it the first in the industry to reach this milestone, according to the company. The electric transportation and storage company says Blink has also recorded 40 million miles of driver data, and saved more than 1.70 million gallons of gas, up from the 880,000 charge events reported in the EV Project’s second quarter data.

Evatran has signed an agreement with SPX Service Solutions to distribute and install its Plugless Power wireless EV charging systems. These systems, available to individual Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt owners starting in April 2013, require station installation in customers’ homes and installation of an adapter onto the undercarriage of the EV. Evatran tested the wireless system on Nissan Leafs in pilot programs at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Google (pictured), Duke Energy, and the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research in Greenville, S.C.

Savannah, Ga.-based convenience store and fuel retailer Enmark is building a fast-fill compressed natural gas refueling facility at the intersection of I-95 and Georgia Route 21, FleetOwner reports. Construction will be completed in the second half of 2013; the company plans to build future CNG refueling facilities in Jacksonville, Fla.  and Charleston, S.C., in early 2014.