Secretary Chu Highlights More Than 1,800 Electric Vehicle Chargers Installed Under the Recovery Act
Investments in Electric Vehicles Helping to Reduce America’s Reliance on Imported Oil
LOS ANGELES – As part of the Obama Administration’s comprehensive plan to address rising gas prices and reduce oil imports one-third by 2025, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced that to date, more than 1,800 electric vehicle chargers have been installed under the Recovery Act. Coulomb Technologies, ECOtality, General Motors and others have been moving forward to install the charging stations as part of the Administration’s investments in U.S. electric vehicle manufacturing and alternative vehicle infrastructure. Secretary Chu made the announcement at an event today in Exposition Park in Los Angeles, California, where he was joined by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Coulomb Technologies founder and Chief Technology Officer Richard Lowenthal. The event marked the installation of the 500th electric vehicle (EV) charger by Coulomb, which received a $15 million award under the Recovery Act.
“President Obama has set an ambitious goal of putting 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. Investing in the U.S. electric vehicle industry will help us reduce our dependence on foreign oil, create jobs for U.S. workers, and provide American families and businesses with alternatives to protect them from future spikes in gas prices,” said Secretary Chu. “Building energy-saving electric cars and trucks, and the infrastructure to power them, will help Americans save money at the pump and improve the nation’s energy security.”
Since 2009, DOE has invested more than $5 billion in grants and loans to spur the growth of America’s electric vehicle and advanced battery manufacturing industry. These investments are supporting U.S. manufacturers and small businesses as they expand to better compete in this fast-growing global market.
Under the Transportation Electrification Initiative, which received $400 million under the Recovery Act, companies are developing, deploying and analyzing EVs and EV infrastructure, and educating the public to help accelerate the market adoption of advanced electric-drive vehicles. The eight projects under the Transportation Electrification Initiative, including Coulomb’s project, represent the world’s largest electric vehicle demonstration project and will result in the deployment of over 13,000 grid-connected vehicles and over 22,000 charging points in residential, commercial, and public locations nationwide by December 2013. Through these cost-shared projects, DOE will collect information about how consumers use and charge electric vehicles, which will be critical to informing the broader rollout of electric vehicles and chargers nationwide.
Coulomb’s project includes the deployment of electric vehicles, including 2,000 GM Volt, 200 Ford Transit Connect, 100 Ford Focus EV, and 100 Smart EV vehicles, as well as establishing 4,600 EV charging locations nationwide. The vehicles and charging infrastructure will be deployed in residential, workplace, and public locations in Austin, Texas, Los Angeles, Calif., New York, N.Y., Orlando, Fla., Redmond, Wash., Sacramento, Calif., San Francisco, Calif., Southern Michigan, and Washington, D.C. In addition to DOE’s investment, Coulomb is providing $22.9 million in cost share for a total project value of $37.9 million. Coulomb is based in Campbell, Calif., and manufactures its charging equipment in San José, Calif.
To further build on the foundation laid out under the Recovery Act, DOE recently announced the availability of $5 million in electric vehicle funding for local governments and private companies to continue to accelerate installation of electric vehicle charging stations and infrastructure. Communities will work to develop plans and strategies for EV deployment, update their EV permitting processes, develop incentive programs, or launch other local or regional initiatives that improve the experience of EV users and help bring these highly energy-efficient vehicles in the marketplace. These projects will leverage the best practices and lessons learned from the initial deployment projects under the Recovery Act. Learn more about DOE’s Funding and Partnership with Google to Promote Electric Vehicles.
Additionally, DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is joining with Google Inc. and various industry leaders to provide consumers with consistent, up-to-date information about the EV charging stations in communities nationwide. Drawing on Google Maps, this new collaboration will coordinate an online network of all U.S. charging stations and will serve as the primary data source for GPS and mapping services tracking electric vehicle charging locations. More information is available on the Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles Data Center (AFDC).
Keep up with the latest ideas and innovations driving our nation towards a more secure energy future at DOE’s EnergyBlog. View the most recent EnergyBlog post on electric vehicles HERE.
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About Christopher DeMorro
Great my (and my daughter’s and her children’s) tax money paid to put in charging stations for other people so that they can drive electric cars but not me. …Stupid socialist.
@ Mike
A Society grows great when Old Men (you!) plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in.
When I plant a tree, I use my own money. I don’t take it from one to benefit another.
@ Mike
Obviously the point of the proverb is lost on you, and I fear many of the “Baby Boomers” who it seems are more concerned with keeping money in their pocket than improving society for the next generation. Hardly surprising.
@Mike,
I suppose you are ok with taking money out of my pocket to pay for military shit to protect oil interest in the middle east….when I don’t want to do that?
Typical “conservative” hypocrit. Complains about everyone else’s ideas but what YOU want to take from everyone and support is not considered “redistributing wealth”! You’re the bloody socialist!!! How many billions in tax breaks will Big Oil get this year? Why do I have to pay for that???
But I guess you think that is ok because you’ve got some moral guidance that supports it ROFLMAO
When did conservative stop meaning a responsible way of managing our economy and finances and start meaning: anything a bunch of really rich people can do to keep to make more money and create more poor people.
Those rich people spend fortunes on TV ads telling morons that it is somehow their “god given right” to drive big cars that waste gas and somehow that makes everyone more American?
And those of us who want to drive EVs or some other alternative which doesn’t send $400Billion a year out of our economy buying foreign oil and hundreds of billions more on military and oil subsidies…and we have to listen to you whine about ANYTHING done for an electric vehicle infrastructure???
@DaveD,
To coin a phrase, You know less than nothin about nothin. I’m ex-military but now I’m a confirmed Christian (contentious objector). I do not believe that we should take money to fight in wars that are not just. (Afghanistan …maybe. Iraq …no way) Killing is just plain wrong. A just war is a rare thing indeed.
I believe in self-reliance and self-efficiency (That’s why I read gas2.org). If you want to drive an electric car, GREAT, so do I. It is one of the most efficient ways to get around. But, to steal money from one portion of the population to benefit another is just plain theft. The proper way to get those charging stations is the same way we got the gasoline infrastructure we have today …demand. Demand ALWAYS drives supply. There were gasoline cars long before there were gas stations every couple of miles to fill them. If we buy the electric cars, even if we can only use them on short trips, then companies will see the benefit (money) of creating the infrastructure to feed them. It is a slow and PAINFUL process but to do it any other way will create an industry that will forever suckle at the teet of government handouts. …and let’s not forget that the government doesn’t have any money. That is our money.
(Christoper,
If you want to sacrifice something that you yourself will/may not see the bennifit from in our lifetime, buy an electric car. It will start the demand that will create the infrastructure that your children will benefit from.)
The real problem here, and DaveD you almost touched on it with the big oil comment, is that we have allowed these big lobbying organizations to take over our government. The oil / auto industry has fought electric (or any non-gasoline) car for years and has put us in this situation. If we just stop giving special deals to every special interest group that comes along (oil, auto, bank, green, corn, wall street, airline, etc.) and let the market work as it should, there would be no problem here.
DaveD
You mentioned my “God given right”, well I DO have a God given right. I have the right to the fruit of the sweat of my brow. It takes a lot of labor to grow my own food for my family (as much as I can), to raise my own bees, to raise cows, to raise chickens and Guineas and still work my day job (computer programmer) but I do it for a better, safer more self-sufficient life. What have you done to get your EV infrastructure? Lobby congress; contribute to a special interest group or PAC? If you really want to make a difference, lobby to get rid of lobbyist, vote with your money not mine (there’s not enough there to buy much anyway).
@Mike,
I should not have assumed you were favoring big oil simply because you were speaking of your opinions against gov’t subsidizing of EV chargers.
My apologies.
I also agree that it’s better for private business to grow out charging stations rather than public money being used. The problem is that EVs are not facing the same situation early gas cars were in. It was relatively easy for gas cars to spread and because there was no “Big Horse” lobby spreading fear and misinformation, buying politicians to pass laws against gas cars, getting gov’t money by the billions or even trillions to prop up hay farms and distribution networks to feed horses and spending billions to advertise against cars to convince the common man that “Horses are the American Way!”.
We have that today with gas while it fights to hold onto it’s strangle hold of our global economy. Look at the disgusting vote last week where Republicans blocked a bill from even coming to the floor for a VOTE! It couldn’t even make it to the point of getting a vote because of the politicians that Big Oil owns.
They are destroying this country and the few in power are taking money to allow it to happen and making sure their already rich friends get even richer while everyone else gets poorer.
But somehow, we have let the advertising and media confuse us into thinking that driving big cars and becoming disgustingly rich at the expense of everyone around us is our “God given right”.
If Jesus were walking around today, I doubt he’d be driving a gas guzzling Hummer and supporting tax breaks for the rich LOL
We’ve somehow twisted that view in this country and rewritten things to justify our “grab everything you can get” mentality.
I’m no bleeding heart liberal who wants some freebie. I’ve often been in that top tax bracket by quite a margin. I don’t need another tax break to buy yet another Porsche while I watch friends and family who are less fortunate struggle to feed their kids or buy a used car so they can keep a job.
I don’t understand wealthy people who piss away more money than other people will ever see and then complain about how they’re being abused. But I also don’t see how people sit on their ass when they’re capable of working and collect gov’t handouts.
What the hell has happened to this country??? Where did the REAL middle class go? Where are the morals and the mental toughness that made this country great?