Cities Prepare for First Electric Cars

With the launch of the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt just around the corner, carmakers and public officials are trying to strike deals that will help integrate electric vehicles into consumers’ lives.

Boulder-based Pike Research predicts that there will be 610,000 plug-in vehicles on the roads in the U.S. by 2015.

In the future, widespread electric adoption will require charging infrastructure outside of cities. Washington and Oregon have considered “electrifying” the I-5 corridor. But since the first plug-ins are designed to be commuter vehicles, the task of helping consumers switch over to electric cars centers on municipal infrastructure.

Efforts to set up public charging stations and make it possible for customers to charge their cars at home are underway not only in cities like Seattle and San Francisco but also in places like Indianapolis, Memphis and Houston.

In Houston, electric utility Reliant Inc. is planning to offer special rate plans for customers who need to charge electric vehicles at home. Reliant has also worked with the city to set up 10 charging stations downtown.

Customers can charge the cars from home with a 110-volt or 220-volt outlet, though the lower voltage can mean a charging time of 12 hours or more.

A spokesperson for Puget Energy told the Wall Street Journal that for a utility, dealing with numerous customers in an area switching over to electric vehicles would be akin to accommodating a new subdivision—a challenge, but a familiar one.

Given the vehicles’ short range, making them convenient for customers means making public charging stations as available as possible.

Using a $100 million Department of Energy award, Nissan’s partner, the Electric Transportation Engineering Corp., will install over 11,000 charging stations in Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington State. A few hundred of them will be equipped to re-charge vehicles in minutes.

Nissan is partnering with AeroVironment Inc. to offer home-charging packages—including installation and permitting--for sale along with the Leaf. The company is also encouraging large companies to offer on-site charging stations for employees.

The Nissan Leaf will be priced at $32,780, though a federal tax credit will drop that figure to around $25,000.

Unlike the Leaf, the Chevy Volt will have a built-in gasoline engine, reducing the need for emergency charging. GM, maker of the Volt, says the company is focused on customers charging the vehicle from home via 110-volt or optional 220-volt charging cords.

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