DeviceGuru

Electric vehicle (EV) charging stations will soon be available at a dozen Best Buy electronics retail stores in Tucson, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Seattle as part of a $100 million government-funded “EV Project,” says charging station supplier ECOtality.

The selected Best Buy stories are located within pilot markets of The EV Project, touted as “the largest deployment of electric vehicles and charge infrastructure in history.” The Best Buy pilot installation will be completed by March 2011, according to the company.

In August, ECOtality was awarded a $99.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to install 15,000 EV charging stations in 16 cities located in six states (Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, Tennessee, and Texas) and the District of Columbia over a 36 month period. Nissan North American and General Motors/Chevrolet are partners in project.

Neither ECOtality nor Best Buy indicated how — or whether — EV owners themselves will be charged for using the electric filling stations to recharge their cars’ batteries.

ECOtality’s Blink charger in a typical retail setting

The balance of this article is an excerpt from ECOtality’s Oct. 11, 2010 press release…

“As the private sector will ultimately drive consumer electric vehicle adoption, our goal has been to establish a charging network that is conveniently placed in familiar places to meet consumers’ needs. Aligning ourselves with major retailers is a key part of achieving that goal,” stated ECOtality CEO Jonathan Read.

“In order for EV infrastructure to be a success, it is essential that private enterprises take an active role,” added Read. “Best Buy has shown true leadership as becoming a launch partner for The EV Project and exemplifies how corporate responsibility initiatives can directly benefit the customer experience, environment and society.”

ECOtality will initially install Blink chargers at 12 strategic Best Buy locations as part of the pilot program. Throughout the experiment, ECOtality will analyze real-world experiences of EV users to continually develop best-practices for creating EV infrastructure in a variety of regions.

The data gathered from the Blink EV charging stations at the 12 Best Buy stores will provide a characterization of consumer charging behavior and identify potential incentives for EV host sites. Contingent upon the findings of the pilot program, ECOtality and Best Buy may expand the installation of Blink charging stations to include other store locations.

Based on the results of ECOtality’s EV Micro-Climate process in the pilot regions, the deployment of these charging systems will take into consideration geographic location, distance to major interstates and transportation routes, distance to other EV Project charging facilities and population density in making its decisions.

“We are excited to announce our partnership with Best Buy to host Blink commercial electric vehicle charging stations as part of The EV Project and believe these locations will be an ideal destination spot for consumers purchasing electric vehicles,” stated Don Karner, President of ECOtality North America. “We are eager to work with a forward-thinking company like Best Buy to better understand the true business case and value of offering commercial EV charging access to their customers. Together, we will work to grow our network of commercial chargers and speed the adoption of electric vehicles.”

The commercial Blink Network charging locations will complement the residential Blink Network charging stations that ECOtality will install as project manager for The EV Project. The Blink Network is designed to allow EV drivers the freedom to travel wherever they choose with residential and commercial locations conveniently located at their normal destinations. Blink Network chargers are fully interactive with color touch screens, and connect to a web portal that provides users with charge status, statistics, history, and billing information in addition to ease of payment options. This information is also available through the Blink Network smartphone application.

ECOtality is project manager of The EV Project, and will oversee the installation of 15,000 commercial and residential charging stations in 16 cities and major metropolitan areas in six states. The project will provide an EV infrastructure to support the deployment of 8,300 EVs. The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy through a federal stimulus grant of $114.8 million, made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The grants are matched by private investment, bringing the total value of the project to approximately $230 million.

For further information, visit the ECOtality’s website.