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PROJECT UPDATE
The EV Project continues to move swiftly toward its goal of placing chargers in the test-market cities by beginning in Q4 of this year—just before the first Nissan LEAF vehicles roll off the production line.
Most of you are currently involved in the stakeholder advisory groups in your areas. Those groups have nearly completed their work on the Deployment Guidelines 2.0. Area cooperation has been very good, and significant progress has been made on these foundational topics.
As you know, consumers interested in owning a LEAF and potentially participating in The EV Project have been making themselves heard. Later in April, the coordinated registration process will begin, as well as the process for qualifying participants in The EV Project.
Meantime, we are very pleased to announce that Underwriters Laboratories (UL), has been named the exclusive Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory for The EV Project. UL, a global leader in safety testing and certification, will test and certify ECOtality/eTec’s vehicle charging stations that will be used in The EV Project. ECOtality’s President and CEO Jonathan Read said, “Our goal is to facilitate simple, smart and effective transition to electrically-powered vehicles in the United States and around the world. I am very pleased to have UL join us in reaching that goal.”
Click here to read the news release |
The EV Project Quick-Reference Summary
The EV Project continues to generate positive coverage worldwide (for a summary of recent articles, click here). Even with this considerable attention, all of our project partners are still receiving plenty of questions about the mission of The EV Project, what it is intended to do and what we expect to learn.
With that in mind, we’ve assembled this reference digest of key information to assist you, as project partners, to interact and educate your customers and stakeholders as we move forward together on The EV Project.
Background
- On August 5, 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the award of a grant of $99.8 million to implement the largest-ever rollout of electric vehicle infrastructure.
- The EV Project officially was launched when contracts were signed on October 1, 2009 and will last approximately 36 months.
- The lead grantee and project manager is the Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec), a subsidiary of ECOtality, Inc. (OTCBB.ETLE). eTec/ECOtality are joined by more than forty Project partners.
- Partners will match the USDOE grant for a total project amount of nearly $200 million.
Mission of The EV Project
- The stated goal of the Project is to “develop, implement and study techniques for optimizing the effectiveness of infrastructure supporting widespread EV deployment.”1 We will spend the next two years learning how drivers actually use vehicles and the charge infrastructure; study the effect on the electrical grid; develop sustainable business models for EV infrastructure; and more.
- The Project also allows for ‘course corrections.’ As we learn lessons and acquire new information, we can apply and test that data immediately. It will take trial and error to determine the best way to establish rich infrastructure, and the framework of this Project anticipates that.
- Identify sustainable business models that will allow EV infrastructure to thrive.
How it works
- In the fourth quarter of this year, Nissan will begin production of its zero-emissions vehicle, the LEAF.
- Prior to the time the LEAF takes to the road, The EV Project will begin installation of residential and publicly-available EVSE (electric vehicle supply equipment or ‘chargers’).
- A total of 4,700 LEAF vehicles will be involved in the Project. They will rollout in five states: Washington (Seattle), Oregon (Portland, Corvallis, Salem and Eugene), California (San Diego), Arizona (Phoenix and Tucson) and Tennessee (Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga).
- Those consumers who are interested in owning a LEAF and participating in the Project (we refer to them as “hand-raisers”) have – and will continue – to register that interest via The EV Project and Nissan LEAF websites.
- Those consumers must qualify to participate in the EV Project. The number of monthly miles driven, location of the residence, and commuting distance are among the many participation criteria.
- For those who qualify to participate, the grant will cover the cost of the home-base charging station, as well as most if not all of the costs of installation. (Those who do not qualify will still retain their registration with Nissan for purchase or lease of the LEAF vehicle.)
- Once the cars are in operation, and with the permission of the owner, Idaho National Laboratory will begin collecting data about how the vehicles are used. That data will be reported to DOE and published periodically to project partners.
- As the project progresses, we expect to install Level 2 (220 volt) and DC fast-chargers at a variety of publicly-accessible locations in each of the target markets.
- Regional stakeholder groups have been created in each of the five states involved in The EV Project. Those groups are in the process of creating Deployment Guidelines for placement of publicly-accessible chargers. Area managers are working within each jurisdiction to streamline the process for permitting and certifying residential and public installation.
The Numbers
The EV Project involves:
- Five states
- 10,950 Level 2 (220V) Chargers
- 260 DC fast-chargers
- 4,700 Nissan LEAF cars
- $99.8 million USDOE grant
- $200 million total project value
- The Nissan LEAF has a range of approximately 100 miles when fully charged. The average U.S. driver travels a total of 29 miles a day, well under that 100 mile range.
- Over the course of a year, the cars involved in The EV Project will reduce gasoline consumption by approximately two million gallons.
For answers to more questions, please be in touch with the Area Manager for your state. Contact information is provided later in this newsletter. You can also find it at www.theevproject.com. To sign up for a Nissan LEAF, please click here.
Footnote: 1Statement of Project Objectives, DE-EE0002194
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NEW AREA MANAGER
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Stephanie Cox
Stakeholder Services Area Manager - Tennessee
Nashville, TN
(615) 585-4062
scox@etecevs.com
Stephanie Cox joins us as the new Area Manager for Tennessee, with responsibility for implementation of The EV Project plans in Knoxville, Nashville and Chattanooga. Cox has had a long and distinguished career as an executive working in business development, project management, customer relationship management, and sales, handling major national and international clients.
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REGIONAL UPDATES
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WASHINGTON
Rich Feldman
PNW Regional Manager
206 659-7072
rfeldman@etecevs.com
In Washington, we have just released the EV Charging Infrastructure Deployment Guidelines for the Central Puget Sound version 2.0. We are delighted to welcome Cinthia Smith, who joins us as Regional Office Administrator. eTec’s Rich Feldman will share insights on The EV Project at GoGreen ’10, a one-day sustainability conference in Seattle on Earth Day, April 21. http://seattle.gogreenconference.net/
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OREGON
David Mayfield
Area Manager - Oregon
503 919-0304
dmayfield@etecevs.com
The EV Project has a new Oregon office in the heart of Portland at the historical George Lawrence Building, 308 SW First Avenue. We also welcome our newly-hired Regional Office Administrator, Charilyn Rich. Introductory stakeholder meetings have been held in all four of our targeted metropolitan areas, and communities are actively engaged in identifying their highest-priority locations for EVSE.
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CALIFORNIA (SAN DIEGO)
Andrew Hoskinson
Area Manager - San Diego
619 559-2118
ahoskinson@etecevs.com
The Stakeholder Advisory Committee has been formed, and includes a wide variety of local participants: SANDAG (San Diego Association of Governments), City of San Diego, City of Oceanside, SDG&E (San Diego Gas & Electric), UCSD (University of California, San Diego) Qualcomm, the California Center for Sustainable Energy, and others. The first stakeholder meeting has been completed. eTec, SANDAG and SDG&E are actively engaged in defining existing permitting and inspection processes region-wide to facilitate EV Project EVSE installations.
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ARIZONA
Marc Sobelman
Area Manager - Arizona
Office: 602 345-9056
Cell: 602 908-3233
msobelman@etecevs.com
In Arizona, the Phoenix and Tucson Advisory Committees have also been formed, with county, city and town meetings underway in both metro areas. The groups are in the process of defining the specifics of how planning, permitting and inspection processes will work, as well as gathering demographic and transportation data. Next step is to develop the EV Micro-Climates© Plan for each city; it will incorporate stakeholder feedback, and will include project boundaries, a survey of existing EVSE, proposed EVSE locations and more.
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TENNESSEE
Stephanie Cox
Stakeholder Services Area Manager - Tennessee
615 585-4062
scox@etecevs.com
In Tennessee, the state Advisory Board met, and was represented by the Tennessee Departments of Commerce and Insurance; Economic and Community Development and Transportation (TDOT). Also participating: the Tennessee Valley Authority and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Local advisory boards have also assembled in Chattanooga, Knoxville and Nashville. Elizabeth Hall joins us as a Regional Office Administrator in Nashville.
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UTILITIES
Paul D. Heitmann
eTec Utility Stakeholder Representative
973 906-1184
pheitmann@etecevs.com
Paul Heitmann reports that the FUSE (Forum for Utility Stakeholders of The EV project) has been lit and has now settled in to call on every other Tuesday morning. The call will evolve to an online web meeting in the near future, as requested by the majority of participants, allowing utility stakeholders to find current updates on the EV Project, discuss common processes and emerging best practices, and share significant developments from the individual regions.
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THE EV PROJECT TIMELINE & NEXT ACTIONS
| 2010 |
| Long-range infrastructure planning for each project state |
Q2 |
| Complete EV MicroClimate© for each project state |
Q2 |
| Initial infrastructure planning & permitting |
Q3 |
| Begin residential EVSE installation |
Q4 |
| Vehicle Launch |
Q4 |
| Data collection begins |
Q4 |
| 2011 |
| Final Infrastructure |
Q2 |
| Start Evaluation |
Q4 |
| 2012 |
| End Evaluation |
Q3 |
| 2013 |
| Project Completion |
Q2 |
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The EV Project has delivered its progress reports to the Federal government. You can see a summary of the information related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act here.
As always, for the best information regarding The EV Project,
please visit www.theevproject.com
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For information about this newsletter, including suggestions and comments, please contact
Jeanine L'Ecuyer VP Marketing & Communications, ECOtality
480 219-5005 | jlecuyer@ecotality.com
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430 South 2nd Avenue - Phoenix, AZ 85003
602-716-9576 - www.theevproject.com
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