One small step...

[NigelM]

In Sarasota area, electric car drivers will soon have more charging stations

This was local news today here in Sarasota, and I'd hope that stories like it are appearing around the country, but it's worth mentioning a couple of highlights:

Forgive Chris Sharek if he is a little smug about soaring gas prices; it has been months since he has had to slide his credit card through a pump.

"The last time I got gas was December 2nd after my Thanksgiving trip to see my folks on the east coast," said Sharek, a Sarasota resident who has owned an electric-gas hybrid Chevy Volt since May.

Venice is among the latest city to move forward with electric charging stations, with two planned for its downtown Centennial Park in the next few months, joining about two dozen public stations in the region.

Bradenton has eight, Palmetto just added two, Sarasota is adding five more in the next six months and Sarasota County plans to finish installing nine stations by the month's end. The county plans to put them at the administration buildings, the library and "places where people go to do business," said Nina Powers, Sarasota County outreach coordinator.

(I added the *bold* emphasis above.) Nice to see local government using some common sense.

Then this from AAA:

The AAA auto club is taking a "build it and they will use it approach," testing an experimental mobile charging station in Orlando, beginning in June. The plan is to eventually offer AAA customers a quick charge to get home in the same way it delivers gas to stranded motorists, said John Nielsen, the group's national director of automotive engineering and repair.

"We're working to support the infrastructure," Nielsen said.

AAA has about 20 permanent charging stations nationwide, he said.

"One of the biggest concerns is range anxiety. We hope to alleviate this."

:biggrin:

 

[bonnie]

Fantastic, Nigel.

 

[NigelM]

I have the feeling that we on the east coast are way behind SoCal (maybe CAL in general) when it comes to these things, but it's encouraging for everyone that we start to see infrastructure broadening nationally.

 

[johns258]

That is such great news! I'm eagerly if somewhat nervously looking forward to be able to drive back and forth from Sanibel to northern Virginia this Fall sans petrol! The more charging stations the better!

 

[ggr]

I have the feeling that we on the east coast are way behind SoCal (maybe CAL in general) when it comes to these things, but it's encouraging for everyone that we start to see infrastructure broadening nationally.

I don't know about that. Here in San Diego, there are only 4 publicly accessible chargers downtown; it costs $10 (discount) to park for up to 4 hours, they charge for the electricity, and they're always full anyway, with Electric Smart Cars from a company called "Car2Go". Oh, and the Blink chargers are notoriously unreliable.