ECOtality gets $30M to expand its EV program
By Erik Siemers
Portland Business Journal staff writer
A federally funded project to roll out electric vehicle charging stations across Oregon and four other states has been expanded by $30 million and will now include Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., in addition to providing home chargers for owners of the Chevrolet Volt.
ECOtality Inc. (NASDAQ: ECTY) of Tempe, Ariz., in October was issued a $99.8 million federal stimulus grant to roll-out 15,000 electric vehicle chargers in 13 cities in Oregon, Arizona, Washington, Tennessee and California.
Nissan North America, a partner in the project, is also expected to deploy 4,700 of its all-electric Leaf vehicles by the end of 2010.
On Thursday, ECOtality said the U.S. Department of Energy has extended the federal grant by $30 million — split between federal stimulus money and private funds — enabling its growth into Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
Qualified Nissan Leaf owners would be eligible for a free residential charger under the program. Now, the energy department has expanded that to included qualified new owners of the Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle with extended range capability.
The expanded program will provide another 2,600 home chargers for Volt owners and 1,000 more for Leaf owners.
The goal of the project is to collect and study data to show how consumers use electric vehicles in a range of climate conditions and geographies so that a model can be created to implement charging infrastructure nationwide.
By including Chevy’s Volt into the program, the project can also study the performance and use patterns for vehicles with extended-range capability.
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