Payment not accepted: Volta’s free DC fast charging network starts soon

Volta free DC fast chargingA California-based company is taking the ad-supported model popularized by smartphone apps and applying it to the next generation of vehicle infrastructure with a nationwide network of free DC fast charging stations. Volta announced last week that it will build 150 stations over the course of the next year, it said in its announcement. This first...

Electrify America, ChargePoint both pushing out connected home chargers

Electrify America Electric Vehicle Home ChargerTwo companies that are better known for their public charging networks have, just recently, rolled out new wifi-connected home-charging hardware. Both are AC charge points—or EVSE, as they’re sometimes called—although the two companies refer to them as chargers. Electrify America Tuesday rolled out a unit called the Electrify...

Gas station shuts down pumps, goes all-in on electric-vehicle charging

Old Gas PumpsThe owner of a 60-year-old fueling station in Maryland disconnected from the legacy of Big Oil and went all-electric, partnering with the Electric Vehicle Institute and the state energy administration to rip out the gas pumps and install chargers. Depeswar Doley of RS Automotives in Takoma Park told CNBC that he was tired of the way oil companies...

Hyundai and Kia invest in Europe’s high-power fast-charging network

Hyundai IonityHyundai and Kia announced Monday that they are investing in Ionity, Europe's 350-kilowatt charging network. They will join BMW Group, Daimler, Ford and Volkswagen/Porsche in expanding charging station availability for vehicles with 800 volt on-board systems. This partnership gives Hyundai the opportunity to develop vehicles with 800-volt systems...

Why the Porsche Taycan electric car won’t have one-pedal driving

2020 Porsche TaycanPorsche doesn’t believe in one-pedal driving. And its electric vehicles—including the 2020 Porsche Taycan—aren’t going to have the feature. “It is easier to control braking point and deceleration with one pedal, the brake pedal,” bluntly summed Ingo Albers, Porsche’s director overseeing chassis and some of...

Would automatic robotic chargers be helpful? Take our Twitter poll

Automated charging pilot project  -  EA and Stable AutoElectrify America is developing new chargers with robotic arms to plug into self-driving cars. That led us to wonder: Is that really more helpful than wireless charging pads? Wireless chargers lose efficiency if cars don't line up over them precisely, which may trouble some drivers. If cars are driving themselves, they could be expected to line up...

Street charger tucks away for pedestrian access during the day

Urban Electric charging solutionElectric car charging infrastructure is good—until there's so much of it that it clutters the streets and starts impeding pedestrian access. That's why a British company called Urban Electric has designed pop up chargers that retract into the ground when they're not in use. In Britain, 50 percent of urban residents park on the street...

An electric car can’t fully replace a gas-powered car in my world

2018 Tesla Model 3Three incredibly long days after my nearly 3-year-old son Seth doubled over and screamed his “tummy hurt” we were finally back on the freeway headed home. My mind wandered because there’s not much else on Interstate 380 in Iowa in December. Three days earlier, my wife, kids, and I traveled from Minnesota to Reinbeck...

Want to charge up? EVgo builds chargers at Chevron gas stations

Chevrolet Bolt EV charging at EVgo fast chargers at Chevron station, Menlo Park, CaliforniaIf electric cars need more public places to charge, maybe they could just go to gas stations. That seems to be the approach behind the latest installations of EVgo stations in California. CHECK OUT: Gas stations OK, electric-car chargers too ugly? The company, which bills itself as the largest operator of DC fast charging stations in the U.S...

Colorado bill aims to fine ICEholes who block charging spots

2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV at Whole Foods, Frisco, ColoradoAs one of the top states in the nation for electric-car sales, Colorado hopes to do something about charging problems. In the state's General Assembly, the House passed a bill on Friday to fine drivers who park non-electric cars in any electric-car charging space $150, statewide. The bill is now headed to the state Senate. As electric cars, and...

Colorado to launch smart-charging pilot program as it prepares for EVs

eMotorWerks JuiceBox wall mount charging Tesla Model XAs it prepares to launch an electric-car mandate in coming years, Colorado is working to learn how electric cars can help it move to a more renewable energy grid. The non-profit Platte River Power Authority announced last month that it is teaming up with eMotorWerks, which sells home smart chargers, to sell and install 250 smart chargers for...