ecotality

Seattle getting introduced to the Nissan Leaf EV

Nissan is certainly laying the ground work to provide would-be buyers plenty of places to charge the all-electric Leaf car coming out in 2010.

In conjunction with Ecotality subsidiary eTec, Nissan North America is announcing yet another area in the U.S. where it will try to sell its electric car and offer public charging stations in conjunction with a U.S Department of Energy-sponsored program.

The Leaf is scheduled to be showcased at a press conference in Seattle with Mayor Greg Nickels on Wednesday to kick off the Pacific Northwest effort. On Monday, Nissan announced collaborations in San Francisco, … Read more

EV Project to showcase Nissan LEAF

The EV Project, a pilot program to develop a nationwide public charging system for electric vehicles, is expected to give people an opportunity to inspect the Nissan LEAF EV more closely on Thursday and announce expansion plans that include San Diego.

The unveiling will take place at a press conference in San Diego and include representatives from San Diego Gas & Electric, the City of San Diego, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), and Don Kramer, the president of Ecotality's subsidiary eTec.

Electric-charging station manufacturer Ecotality has received $100 million in stimulus funding from the U.S. Department … Read more

Ecotality in talks with Big Auto, CEO says

Ecotality is in talks with leading automakers--not only Nissan--concerning its electric charging stations for highway-legal electric cars, according to CEO Jonathan Read.

"We have been contacted by every major automaker about electric vehicle systems relating to charging and infrastructure. We expect to convert these discussions into firm contracts," Read told investors Wednesday at a shareholders' conference that was open to the press.

The Arizona-based company recently announced a partnership with Nissan and the local governments in the Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz., areas to build charging stations for electric cars that would cover the regions and the 116-mile stretch … Read more

Nissan expanding electric charging launch in Arizona

Nissan has promised to supply its highway-legal electric vehicles to the Phoenix area, as well as the previously announced Tucson area, for public and private fleets by the end of 2010, the Renault-Nissan Alliance plans to announce Thursday.

"This is a deployment well in excess of a couple hundred," said Mark Perry, director of product planning for Nissan North America.

In anticipation of Nissan's municipal and eventual commercial electric vehicle (EV) launch, the energy technology company Ecotality plans to also announce on Thursday an expansion of its chain of electric charging stations beyond the Tucson Metro area stations it announced in March.… Read more

Ecotality touts fast-charging stations for e-cars

Electric vehicles equipped with fast-charging capability are headed to production and will be on the road next year.

All that's needed to reduce the charging time for these cars from hours to minutes are Level 3 440-volt fast-charging stations. But to date, none are public.

Ecotality, a clean-technology company in Scottsdale, Ariz., wants to fill that void. It designs and sells these rapid rechargers for $15,000 to $35,000, depending on the structure requirements, mostly to warehouses and airports for fleet vehicles.

Given Ecotality's partnership with Nissan, the Tucson Metro Area, and the Pima Association of Governments (… Read more

Tesla: Model S to have fast-charging battery

Telsa Motor's Model S sedan--set to debut March 26--will have 440-volt fast-charging battery capability, wrote Rachel Konrad, spokesperson for Tesla Motors, to CNET in an e-mail.

Although Konrad could not say how long it would take to charge the Model S sedan using either a 440-volt charger or the standard 220-volt charger, the Tesla Roadster's battery can be fully charged in about 3.5 hours using a 220V/70A system, she wrote.

The Model S is expected to have a driving range of 225 miles on a full charge. It's not a fair comparison, but Nissan's … Read more

Ecotality charging up for something new?

Ecotality plans to acquire Minit-Charger, a subsidiary of publicly traded Edison International, for $3 million in cash and stock, both companies announced Thursday.

Minit-Charger makes chargers for rechargeable lithium-ion and lead-acid batteries that can be used in electric light construction vehicles like forklifts. The Irvine, Calif.-based company includes Home Depot, Costco Wholesale, and Toyota Motor among its customers.

"It's the charging system, very complex, that allows batteries to be charged to maximum charge on minimum time. It has a complex electrical system that adjusts once every 300 times per minute for variances," Ecotality CEO Jonathan Read … Read more

Ecotality lends hydrogen tech to clean-coal project

Ecotality is lending its hydrogen technology expertise to a municipal electricity project that aims to squeeze natural gas from coal without emitting carbon dioxide.

The company is partnering with the Arizona Public Service public utility company, which received $8.9 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy for its Advanced Hydrogasification Project (AHP), according to Ecotality.

Hydrogasification is a process in which natural gas is made from coal without releasing the pollutant carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

For the AHP project, Ecotality will contribute its so-called Hydrality technology, a process it developed in conjunction with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory … Read more

Ecotality buys Innergy for mobile-solar and battery technology

What the clean-energy industry needs more of is profitable companies and fewer science experiments.

So says Jonathan Read, the CEO of Ecotality, which announced on Thursday that its has signed an agreement to buy Innergy Power. The price was $3 million, Read said.

San Diego-based Innergy makes solar panels and batteries for mobile applications, such as solar-powered phones, remote surveillance cameras or off-grid lighting. It also manufactures sealed lead acid batteries that can be combined with small solar panels.

The acquisition is part of Ecotality's plan to "roll up" different clean-electricity companies into a diversified and profitable … Read more