Electric Car | 511 Contra Costa

Tag: Electric Car

This week’s headlines in transportation & transit: Mar. 20-26, 2010

Posted on

Local News

Bay Area & California News

For these headlines, travel tips, promotions and more, follow 511 Contra Costa on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Edward Huestis–the reason Vacaville is becoming known as 'Voltage-ville'–retires

Posted on

top_06_22_a
Vacaville has 40 charging stations, a number per capita believed to be the largest in the nation. The city also has a municipal fleet that includes 24 electric-powered vehicles. The city also used to have Edward Huestis–the reason Vacaville is becoming known as ‘Voltage-ville’–but no longer.
After working for the city of Vacaville for 17 years, Huestis retired in December. He was originally brought on to help businesses reduce the number of trips employees made to work sites, but has also worked to find grants for the city and–more recently–as manager of the city’s electric vehicle program.
Continue reading “Edward Huestis–the reason Vacaville is becoming known as 'Voltage-ville'–retires”

Pleasant Hill's New Plug-In Electric Vehicle Chargers

Posted on

ChargePoint-bollard-clean511 Contra Costa in partnership with the City of Pleasant Hill is unveiling the City’s electric charging stations today, December 10, 2009.  The chargers allow for any plug-in electric vehicle to recharge at one of three locations in Pleasant  Hill; City Hall Visitor Parking lot, the public garage on Crescent Drive, and the City’s corporation yard (for city fleet vehicles only).
The charging stations are sleek bollards, some free standing that look like hi tech parking meters, and one wall mount.  To use the chargers, you will need to Coulomb ChargePoint key fob (a.k.a.  smart card) which provides secure access to the charger.  The City of  Pleasant Hill is the 4th Bay Area City to install the charging stations, and is another link in the charging station chain with Walnut Creek’s installation last spring, and the anticipated charging stations in Martinez and Hercules in 2010.
Contact Corinne Dutra-Roberts at 925-969-0841 x 204 for more information.

Nissan will own the batteries in your next Electric Vehicle

Posted on

From Autopia Nissan’s Electric Leaf Spreads the EV Gospel (via The Transportationist)
“You don’t worry about the battery,” Ghosn said. “We worry about the battery.”
Company CEO Carlos Ghosn is among the industry’s loudest EV evangelists, and he firmly believes the four-door, five passenger Nissan Leaf will usher in the era of cleaner, greener motoring when it goes on sale late next year.
nissan-leaf
Nissan is confident the cost of the lease, plus the money you’ll pay for electricity, will for most consumers be no more expensive than buying gasoline. When we drove a Leaf development prototype in April, a company exec said the cost per mile is 4 cents if you figure gas is four bucks a gallon, electricity is 14 cents a kilowatt hour and you drive 15,000 miles a year. Nissan said at the time the car would cost about 90 cents to charge if you plug it in off-peak.
By retaining ownership of the battery, Nissan also can update them as technology advances so consumers aren’t left with “last year’s model.” And though Ghosn didn’t mention it, leasing provides Nissan with some cover should the battery wear out prematurely because it can just replace the pack.
The Leaf’s air-cooled battery provides enough juice to go 100 miles in city traffic.
Read more at Autopia