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Nissan rushes to put electric car charging stations across Tennessee
By G. Chambers Williams III • THE TENNESSEAN • October 11, 2009
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With the rollout of Nissan's first electric vehicles just over a year away in Tennessee, the race is on to figure out how to set up a network of charging stations swiftly enough to get ready.
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It won't be easy.
Thousands of chargers will be needed to satisfy Nissan's ambitious plans to sell thousands of the clean-running cars in the first year as it strives to be the first automaker in the world to successfully mass market an all-electric vehicle.
Unlike the popular hybrids on the market today, Nissan's new Leaf, a five-passenger compact hatchback, won't have an internal-combustion engine onboard to back up the electric power. When the battery runs down, the car stops and drivers walk.
Getting the charging infrastructure in place may be a herculean task, said Mark Perry, director of product planning for Nissan North America Inc., but the automaker vows to be ready when the first cars come to market in December 2010.
Phoenix-based ECOtality Inc. has partnered with Nissan to set up the charging systems in consumers' homes, as well as to create public networks in Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville and on the interstate highways between those cities.
Charging stations also will be set up in Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington, all of which are included in the first phase of Nissan's rollout of the Leaf.
ECOtality has a $100 million loan from the U.S. Energy Department to help pay for the system, which will consist of "two layers of infrastructure," said Colin Read, the firm's vice president for corporate development.
Read said the first 1,000 buyers in Tennessee will get free home chargers installed, which could run up to about $1,500 each for the equipment and installation combined. Without that help, the biggest expense for some Leaf buyers might be getting their home garage wired for the 240-volt chargers, which themselves could cost about $500 each
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