Charge This! Valley Area Powers Up For Plug-In Cars

ECOtality is flipping the on switch for owners of plug-in electric vehicles in the Los Angeles area — installing chargers throughout the city and surrounding region. The San Francisco-based company is funding the project with a $100 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to promote using alternatives to internal combustion vehicles. While sales of hybrid electric vehicles represent a small percentage of overall sales both nationally and in California, car makers hope to see an increase once potential owners know chargers are available. ECOtality has installed 15 of the chargers at business locations accessible to the public from Burbank to Calabasas. The company has plans for additional chargers in Valencia, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks. The workplace is the second most important place that General Motors, maker of the Chevrolet Volt plug in hybrid, would like to see chargers, said Shad Balch, an energy & environment specialist with GM. “It is where a car sits eight hours a day, which is the time it takes to charge,” Shad said. Introduced in December 2010, the Volt can travel up to 40 miles on battery power alone. Sales in Los Angeles have reached 1,000 cars. Nissan began deliveries to U.S. customers of its all-electric Leaf, a five-door hatchback, also in December 2010. Total U.S. sales through February were 1,308 cars, according to the automaker. In California, hybrid vehicles combining the traditional internal combustion engine and a battery-powered engine made up 4.3 percent of new car sales in 2011. Nationally, hybrid sales were 2.1 percent in 2011. The national high for hybrid sales reached 2.7 percent in 2009, according to Peter Welch, president of the California New Car Dealers Association. “They are wonderful technology,” Welch said of hybrids. “The market-place battle is ferocious. There are a lot of variables driven by consumer demand.” Alex Fay, a Silver Lake resident who works for Quallion Inc. in Sylmar, bought his Volt a year ago. When he worked downtown at City Hall, his commute required only using the battery in the car. The commute to Sylmar, however, was longer, Fay said. “I would need to plug in at the office to avoid using gas on the return trip home,” Fay said. Fay was familiar with ECOtality from working on environmental issues for the city and contacted the company to install chargers this month under the federal EV Project. Quallion received six chargers. The chargers will not be limited to just Quallion employees. Two nearby companies, Advanced Bionics and Second Sight Medical Products Inc., will also have access to the chargers as will the general public, Fay said. MICDI Productions, a Burbank firm that edits music for television and feature films, had chargers installed after an employee bought a Leaf, said founder and owner Michael Dittrick. As plug-in electric cars become more common it only made sense to have the chargers in the event that other employees buy one or a visitor drives one, Dittrick said. “We strongly believe in the future,” Dittrick said. “We are thrilled to have them.” When choosing where to put the chargers. ECOtality places a priority on making sure they will get used. So the company wants locations close to freeways or large parking lots with a lot of traffic, said Scott LaBass, the Los Angeles sales manager. In addition to the new installs, ECOtality is replacing obsolete chargers in Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties dating back more than 10 years that would not be compatible with the Volt, Leaf and other plug-ins, LaBass said. “There is a standard connection every car in North America uses so they will be able to connect with the chargers,” LaBass said. For GM, California remains the top market for the Volt. This month the automaker expects more sales with a version of the Volt that qualifies for a sticker to use the carpool lanes and for a $1,500 rebate from the state in addition to the $7,500 rebate from the federal government, Balch said. Quallion’s Fay was happy to take the plunge with his plug-in and saves about $150 a month in gas, Fay said. Having chargers installed at his workplace is a good way for Quallion to practice what it preaches as the company wants to develop batteries for use in vehicles, Fay said.