Station Will Give Electric Cars a Charge
July 15th, 2010
This post was filed by Bill Sweet, who blogs about energy and climate for IEEE Spectrum.
In a press event held yesterday in a mid-Manhattan parking lot, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and U.S. housing secretary Shaun Donovan hailed the installation of an electric car charging station that’s meant to inaugurate a revolution in passenger transit. The station, the first of 100 to be deployed in New York’s five boroughs by the beginning of next year, was designed and developed by Coulomb Technologies, a California startup. It resembles a cute little gasoline pump and is featured, coincidentally, in the triennial design exhibition currently at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. (For photo of pump and background, go to IEEE Spectrum.)
The New York City scheme is part of a national program to install nearly 5,000 Coulomb charging stations in 9 U.S. metropolitan areas, at a cost of about $37 million and with $15 million in support from the U.,S. stimulus bill. Donovan, Bloomberg’s former housing chief, made plain yesterday that the charging station plan should be seen as part of the Obama administration’s aim to create future jobs. He noted that today Obama would be cutting the ribbon at a new car battery factory in Michigan. When the stimulus bill was passed there were no mass manufacturers of car batteries in the United States, he said; now there will be nine.
Bloomberg said that the city plans to have its 100 charging stations in place by the time carmakers like Chevrolet, Nissan, Ford and Daimler introduce electric cars next year. Daimler has just introduced an electric version of its Smartcar to the United States on a trial basis, with commercial sales slated for 2012.
By Gail Robinson on July 15, 2010, 11:25 amIn category: Environment, Gotham City, Transportation | No Comments »

