CRA Motoring & Technology – North America
By Diana Madson
Many people appreciate the environmental benefits of electric cars, but they may hesitate to buy one because they worry that the car’s battery might run out of power on long trips.
“We realized early on that to convince EV drivers to consider EVs as a daily driving car, … you needed to be able to go anywhere you wanted at any time,” says Wayne Killen of Electrify America.
The company is creating two EV-friendly corridors by installing charging stations along major east-to-west highways.
One runs from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles. Another, from Jacksonville to San Diego, should be complete by the end of the year.
The charging stations on these routes will be about 70 miles apart, well within the range of most electric vehicles, so EV drivers can more easily travel state to state or even across the country.
And though charging times are not as quick as filling up with gas, Killen expects most drivers will spend less than 30 minutes powering up.
“Because obviously you don’t want to stop and wait hours when you’re on, say, a 500-mile trip for your EV to charge up,” he says.
So he says the new charging routes will help drivers feel more confident that they can get where they’re going without running out of power.
Reporting credit: Stephanie Manuzak/ChavoBart Digital Media.
Article Credit To Yale Climate Connections.
