Forget five-minute fill-ups. What seems to drive many electric car drivers crazy is making sure the charger they find has the right connector, how fast the charger is (in kilowatts), and whether they have the right credentials to activate it. Without a single one of these parameters, you may not be able to charge. (With most charging done at home... Chargepoint partners with Greenlots to expand access for drivers
Forget five-minute fill-ups. What seems to drive many electric car drivers crazy is making sure the charger they find has the right connector, how fast the charger is (in kilowatts), and whether they have the right credentials to activate it. Without a single one of these parameters, you may not be able to charge. (With most charging done at home...
Seven years and almost 800,000 cars after the first modern electric cars went on sale, there's still a lot wrong with the national charging infrastructure in the U.S. There's little central planning, little standardized signage or public signposting, virtually no awareness among non-EV drivers, and roaming among networks with a single membership...
A couple of weeks ago, we charged a 2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid 15 times within two days. It was part of a contest during a two-day press drive for the car—though we were beaten by the team that charged their Niro a stunning 31 times in little more than 30 hours. But our experience reinforced what many electric car drivers either knew going...
The availability of charging stations for electric cars, or lack of it, is often cited as one of the primary reasons holding back widespread adoption. After all, if you're going to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a brand-new automobile, you want to be sure it'll get you where you want to go. Now, an influential figure in the electric-vehicle...
Electric-car charging network ChargePoint has announced a new feature that allows electric vehicle (EV) owners to begin charging their car using near-field communication (NFC) and their smartphone. This doesn’t mean your phone itself is capable of charging your car, of course, though that would be fantastic. Instead, the company—which...
For more than a century, motorists have been accustomed to gas stations, which provide places to stop and fill up a car with fuel, in recent years with larger and larger convenience stores attached. The model is so commonplace, it may mean drivers don't know electric-car charging stations even exist, since they often lack signage or branding...
The ChargePoint electric-car charging network announced today that it will take over management and operation of General Electric's charging network. GE's network currently numbers 1,800 commercial and roughly 8,000 residential charging sites, made up of its DuraStations and WattStations. They will be added to the 35,900 privately owned charge...
Much like the cell-phone network industry in the mid-1990s, the electric-car charging industry is on a fast pace of network expansions and mergers. EV charging companies are on the verge of rapid global growth as utility companies and large multinational corporations put up big money, according to a report from Navigant Research Blog. For...
In multiple states, electric utilities are beginning to establish networks of electric-car charging stations. But plans for such a network in Michigan recently hit a roadblock. Last week, local utility Consumers Energy withdrew its request to install public electric-car charging stations at an estimated cost of $15 million. DON'T MISS: California...
When you drive into a U.S. gas station to pump gas, every pump works exactly the same way. The only choice to make is which grade of gasoline you want. If you want diesel fuel, of course, you may have to find one of the six out of 10 stations that offer it. DC fast charging for electric cars isn't nearly that simple, and it hasn't been since the...
With about twice the range of any non-Tesla electric car, the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV has generated a great deal of excitement and won numerous awards over the last year. In combination with a nascent DC fast-charging infrastructure, it offers the possibility of much longer road trips powered solely by grid electricity. One early Bolt EV owner is...
As automakers produce electric cars in greater numbers, public charging infrastructure will become even more crucial to lure new buyers and convince them the cars can be practical. Some automakers have already invested in charging infrastructure, while others are just starting to contemplate public charging stations for the electric cars they plan...
Relatively short ranges and long charging times are two of the main factors restraining more widespread electric-car adoption. To address the range issue, automakers are expected to launch a batch of more-affordable long-range electric cars over the next few years, a shift heralded by the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV and the upcoming Tesla Model 3. At...
Yesterday, federal judge Charles Breyer signed the final agreement committing Volkswagen to buy back or modify the 465,000 TDI 2.0-liter diesel vehicles that are the main focus of the VW diesel scandal. As part of that settlement, Volkswagen has also committed to providing $2 billion in funds to install charging or fueling infrastructure for...