With $4-plus-a-gallon-gas, California keeps plugging for electric cars
It doesn’t take a genius to understand why electric vehicles (EVs) would seem especially appealing in a state where the lowest gas prices are currently over $4 per gallon.
While electric car sales in the US have yet to reach critical mass (GM, for example, has put a temporary halt to production of its plug-in Volt in light of lower-than-expected sales), many government officials, transportation experts and utility executives remain convinced that an increasingly electrified transport system is the best way to tackle both tight oil supplies and carbon emissions. In some places, that’s led to what one could call an “if-you-build-it-they-will-come” strategy.
With pain at the pump especially high in California, that explains why NRG Energy is launching into a four-year, $100-million program to build an “unprecedented electric vehicle fast-charging infrastructure” in key parts of the state.
According to NRG CEO David Crane, the fee-based charging network will ensure a “sustainable business model that will allow NRG to maintain and grow the network as EV adoption grows.”
NRG’s plans call for the installation of at least 200 publicly available fast-charging stations in the San Francisco Bay area, the San Joaquin Valley, the Los Angeles Basin and San Diego County. The fast-charge system will be able to add 50 miles of range in less than 15 minutes of charging.
The utility also expects to wire at least 10,000 individual charging stations at homes, offices, multifamily communities, schools and hospitals located across the state.
