Ecotality will use a $30m US DOE grant extension created through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), for the project expansion. This new Federal grant extension includes $15m of ARRA funding and $15m in private funds.
The Ecotality EV Project, which began in October 2009 with an original grant amount of $99.8m, is expected deliver nearly 15,000 residential and commercial chargers to 13 cities in five states and the District of Columbia with the assistance of more than forty partners.
With this expansion, Ecotality’s EV project will be in a position to provide an additional 2,600 home chargers for owners of the Chevrolet Volt, and another 1,000 chargers for the zero-emission Nissan Leaf EVs.
The project aims to evaluate the use of EVs and charging systems in diverse geographies and climates, then to use that information to build an infrastructure that will help in the nationwide adoption of EVs.
Don Karner, president and CEO, Ecotality North America, said: “We are very excited to expand our studies to include additional Nissan Leaf vehicles, to add the Chevrolet Volt, and to add the dynamic transportation environments of Los Angeles and Washington, DC.
“Since The EV Project began last October, we have been busy working with regional stakeholders to plan an effective charge infrastructure deployment. We will soon be entering a new phase of The EV Project to deploy chargers in accordance with these plans.”
