US builds electric vehicle charging stations

In electric vehicle research, the US Government is to build 125 solar-assisted charging stations from Knoxville to Memphis in Tennessee.

25 have been completed in the state so far.

"These join six Electric Power Research Institute stations that were completed in Knoxville earlier this year. The remaining 94 stations are scheduled to be finished by the spring of 2012," said the US Department of Energy (DoE). "As a demonstration project, these charging stations will provide information about station performance, customer charging preferences, component reliability and the impact on the electric grid."

Nissan, which has already introduced its Leaf electric car in the US, is supporting several of the stations.

Two types of battery chargers will be available, according to the DoE, AC which can provide a complete charge in four to eight hours depending on initial charge, and DC which can provide up to 80% of a full charge in 30 minutes.

The DoE Vehicle Demonstration and Vehicle Infrastructure Evaluation project has long-term plans calling for 2,535 electric charging locations to be built in Tennessee and a total of nearly 15,000 in Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, Texas and the District of Columbia.