While I often write about electric vehicles and hybrids I’ve yet to focus on the readiness of different places for what hopefully will change motoring as we know it (albeit gradually). In the first of a series looking at how far along different regions and countries are in preparing for electric vehicles I will begin with California which is expected to have the largest total of electric vehicles of any state in the coming year or two. At the recent Los Angeles auto show while electric vehicles were prominently featured many potential buyers still expressed concerns about how they would keep their cars juiced for travel in a convenient fashion. While 2011 promises to set new records for electric vehicles in the state, officials were simultaneously guaranteeing that a growing spiderweb of public and private charging stations will be available in time. Southern California seems to be a few steps further ahead and those within the industry state that the Los Angeles and San Diego metropolitan areas are almost completely covered and will be in time.

Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

Throughout Santa Monica, West Los Angeles and other coastal towns permit processing and installations of chargers is taking place rapidly, the models installed by ClipperCreek Inc will offer a charge of your vehicle for free while you park. Industry insiders are saying that shoppers/potential buyers need to feel safe and confident their recharging their vehicles will be no more difficult than refilling with gas, although that level of network remains some time in the future the gap is closing quite rapidly. A report this week showed that over 2 million families in California traveled by car over Thanksgiving spending more than $50 million in fuel, the same drivers could have saved $30 million in total if they drove clean fuel vehicles according to environment California. This month marks the introduction of the Chevrolet Volt hybrid in addition to the all electric Nissan Leaf with other models from Ford, Toyota, Honda and Tesla staged to come online soon after. Having a network in place that supports electric vehicles in a widespread fashion will be critical to their acceptance and market share. Hertz have committed to being the first car rental company where all Southern California locations will offer the option of electric car rental.

Other firms are rapidly adding charging stations to freeways, shopping centers and high occupancy business districts, while San Francisco-based ECOtality Inc is adding chargers numerous BP and Arco filling stations in the Bay Area as well as many locations of Best Buy. I assume the charge at the gas station will have an associated cost otherwise what better fun could be had than in pointing out to someone who just filled up for $45 that you did the same for absolutely nothing. AAA are also equipping some of its fleet of breakdown vehicles with the capacity to recharge vehicles that need a boost. Consumer confidence will play a large part in the successful integration of more electric vehicles, I hope that everywhere will be ready in time.

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The ‘Blink’ home or commercial recharger