ANS -- First big piece of 'Electric Highway' gets juice

Here is some exciting news on the progress on changing to electric cars.  Ecotopia* starts!  This is about the beginning of lining our highways with electric chargers for cars.  but Oregon wasn't first!  Look at the last paragraph for who was first -- it may surprise you.
Pictures at the end of the article.
Find it here:  http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/first-big-piece-of-1387616.html   
--Kim
*If you haven't read the book Ecotopia, I recommend it.  I think it was first published in 1976 and is still in print.

First big piece of 'Electric Highway' gets juice

By JEFF BARNARD

The Associated Press

CENTRAL POINT, Ore. ­ Following a trail blazed by Indians and pioneers in covered wagons, electric car drivers hit the road Friday to inaugurate the first major section of a West Coast "Electric Highway" dotted with stations where they can charge up in 20 minutes.
The stretch of 160 miles of Interstate 5 served by eight stations marks the next big step in developing an infrastructure that until now has been limited primarily to chargers in homes and workplaces.

The stations go from the California border north to the Oregon city of Cottage Grove and are located at gas stations, restaurants and motels just off the nation's second-busiest interstate. One is at an inn that was once a stage coach stop.

Spaced about every 25 miles, the stations allow a Nissan Leaf with a range of about 70 miles to miss one and still make it to the next. Electric car drivers will be able to recharge in about 20 minutes on the fast-chargers. The charge is free for now.

"I would say range-anxiety with these fast chargers will be nearly a non-issue for me," said Justin Denley, who owns a Nissan Leaf and joined the caravan.

Inspired by the stations, his family is planning a trip from Medford to Portland, a distance of about 280 miles. Last summer, he took the family on a 120-mile trip to the coast and had to include an overnight stop at an RV park to charge up.

He expects the trip to Portland to take perhaps three hours longer than in a gas car, because the only chargers available for the last 100 miles are slower, level 2 chargers.

Level 1 car chargers use 110 volts, like a regular home outlet, and it can take an entire night to charge a vehicle. Level 2 uses 240 volts, like a home dryer or range, and can charge a car in three or four hours.

But Level 3, which uses 480 volts of direct current, makes en route charging feasible by boosting a Nissan Leaf's 45-kilowatt battery from a 20 percent charge to 80 percent in less than 30 minutes.

Bruce Sargent said, when he was using a Level 1 charger at home, he barely noticed the difference in his electric bill. When he installed a Level 2 charger, it went up about $15 a month, still far below what he was spending on gas.

"For drivers to build confidence in driving hundreds of miles like they do in gas cars, they need an infrastructure," said Wahid Nawabi, senior vice president of AeroVironment, Inc., the Monrovia, Calif., company that makes the stations.

Interstate 5 stretches 1,350 miles from British Columbia to Baja, Calif. The section from Ashland to the Willamette Valley follows an ancient Indian trail that was expanded by pioneers who blazed a southern branch of the Oregon Trail in the 1840s.

The governors of Oregon, California and Washington signed an agreement to turn I-5 into an "Electric Highway" in 2009.

Oregon made a deal with Nissan in 2010 to start aggressively installing charging stations if the company focused sales of electric cars in the state, said Art James, project leader for the state transportation department.

The latest addition is financed by $915,000 in federal stimulus grants. "That's why Oregon is a leader," with about 1,100 plug-in electric vehicles in the state, James said.

By the end of this year, DC fast-chargers will be installed along I-5 from Canada to the California border, a distance of about 550 miles. Another 22 are being installed in locations as far away as 120 miles from Portland, Oregon's largest city.

The eight new charging stations each have a level 3 charger, and a level 2 charger for backup.

Drivers equipped with an electronic key fob can drive up and plug in around the clock. They get the fob when they sign up with AeroVironment's charging program. Stations can be located with smartphones and software on the cars.

The Interstate 5 stretch is not the first electric highway corridor in the country.

That honor goes to Tennessee, where Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurants installed a network of charging stations last year along interstates connecting Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga, a total of 425 miles.

___

March 16, 2012 07:11 PM EDT

Copyright 2012, The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 
Thomas Miller, Western EV fleet sales manager for Mitsubishi Motors North America, demonstrates a fast-charger connection on a Mitsubichi i car Friday, March 16, 2012 in Central Point, Ore. Tucked in the back corner of a gas station off Interstate 5, this is one of eight new fast-charging stations that now allow electric cars to cruise from the California border to Eugene, Ore., recharging in about 20 minutes when the batteries get low. It is the first major section of what will eventually be an Electric Highway allowing electric cars to drive from Canada to Mexico on Interstate 5. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard)
 
Tucked in a back corner of a gas station, a Nissan Leaf tops off it's battery Friday, March 16, 2012 at one of the new charging stations now open to the public along a 160-mile stretch of Interstate 5. Eight new charging stations equipped with fast- and medium-speed chargers make it possible for electric cars to cruise from the California border to Eugene, Ore., recharging in about 20 minutes when their batteries get low. It is the first major section of an Electric Highway that will allow electric cars to cruise from Canada to Mexico. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard)
 
An electric car fast-charging station stands ready Friday, March 16, 2011 off Interstate 5 in Central Point, Ore. The Oregon Department of Transportation opened the first 160-mile section of an Electric Highway that will ultimately allow electric cars to travel from Canada to Mexico along the nation's second-busiest interstate.