In a bid to try to mitigate range anxiety as a reason for consumer avoidance of electric vehicles, BMW and Volkswagen have announced that they're teaming up with EV charging station network provider ChargePoint to create new charging "corridors" along both the East and West coasts.
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The goal is to have 100 DC Fast chargers installed in and between major metropolitan areas on both coasts. One section will encompass the Interstate 95 corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C., while the other connects the areas of Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. The goal is to space these chargers about 50 miles apart, or the average usable range of current EVs at highway speeds. Each station will consist of up to two 50- or 24-kilowatt 480-volt DC Fast chargers, as well as several Level 2 240-volt chargers. Users will access the charging stations via a ChargePoint membership, which allows them to scan a card and plug in.
BMW and VW both sell EVs — the BMW i3 and VW e-Golf should both be able to recharge to about 80 percent in about 20 minutes on a 50-kW DC Fast charger, or about 30 minutes on a 24-kW version. If the DC chargers are busy, the Level 2 240-volt AC chargers can recharge the i3 and e-Golf to full charge in about 3.5 to four hours. The charging stations will be located in the same areas that ChargePoint currently offers stations: restaurants, rest stops, shopping malls and other high-traffic locations. Strategically, this makes sense, allowing customers to grab a bite to eat or shop while their car charges.
The first phase of the project is set to be completed by the end of 2015, with installations already underway in San Diego County. After the 100 chargers are installed along the coasts, the coalition intends to expand coverage to the rest of the country.
DC Fast charging is an option some automakers are including for their EVs, yet it is not universal. It's an option on the Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model S, but not available on Chevrolet's Volt or Spark EV, the Cadillac ELR, Audi A3 eTron or Mercedes-Benz B-Class. Some automakers are waiting to see if DC Fast charging takes off, reserving the possibility of installing such charging mechanisms in cars at a later date. The charging stations themselves can recharge a car in much less time than a standard 120-volt AC household outlet, but they are expensive to install and consume a great deal of energy, previously limiting their installation to industrial areas and businesses instead of private homes.
Cars.com photo by Evan Sears
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