Fast-charging station likely coming for city vehicles

Oct 18 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Rachana Dixit The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Va.

Within the next year, Charlottesville residents could notice construction of what appears to be a gas station -- except it will be equipped with outlets rather than fuel pumps.

A $500,000 earmark is going to allow the city government and a local company to complete a project on fast-charging technology for electric vehicles. City officials say the project is meant to provide research data on zero-emissions vehicle technology, and it will allow them to see how the vehicles are used in an urban environment so it can potentially be used as a strategy to decrease fuel emissions and demand for oil.

"It's going to look like a gas station pump, and it'll have two outlets, and the vehicles will be able to pull up and plug in and they'll be on their way in a half-hour," said John Aker, president and chief technology officer for Aker Wade Power Technologies, the Albemarle County company that is working with the city government on the project.

The federal grant was approved by Congress and is being awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The City Council is set to appropriate the funding for the project at its meeting tonight.

The money will allow the city to have up to two fast chargers, which Aker said will be able to recharge an electric vehicle's battery in 20 to 25 minutes, though their locations have not yet been determined. Kristel Riddervold, the city's environmental administrator, said up to four vehicles would be purchased for the research project and be kept in the city government's fleet.

Riddervold said localities need to be able to depend on their stock of vehicles, and waiting the typical time period of at least eight hours for an electric vehicle to recharge can create difficulties.

Charlottesville already has four electric vehicles in its fleet, city officials said.

"Having that fast-charge technology is going to be critical," Riddervold said. She added, "We're constantly trying to explore ways that our fleet can be as efficient as possible."

Aker Wade will work in partnership with the city government to do the engineering, design, construction and implementation of the fast-charging technology. The company is paying for the project's 20 percent cost-share requirement, so the undertaking does not add any costs to the city budget.

"The cities and counties are huge users of petroleum. A lot of these vehicles would be ideally suited to be electric, because they're operating within a limited geographic range ... and it would allow us to replace the use of fossil fuels and save taxpayers money," Aker said. "It's truly an ideal application."

Other charging stations will also be coming online soon in the area, though they are not associated with the city's project. Warren Polson, general sales manager for Colonial Auto Center in Albemarle, said the dealership would have regular charging stations installed there because of the arrival of the Nissan Leaf.

Polson said electric cars like the Leaf usually take eight hours to get a full charge, but drivers can go 100 miles on a full battery.

Referring to fast charging stations, he said, "It is available. We won't have one but there are some that can charge the car faster than [overnight]."

Polson said Nissan was going to build 20,000 Leafs for the 2011 model year and that all of them have been presold, but it is not yet known how many of those sales have been in the Charlottesville market.