Are you thinking about buying a new car?  Is an all-electric vehicle, or EV, even a possibility?  Most EVs have a range of about 100 miles before requiring a battery charge.  While this covers 99% of household trips in the US, the location of charging stations becomes more important for midrange or longer excursions, which account for 15% of all miles driven.  The Alternative Fuel and Advanced Vehicles Data Center provides a graphical display of all electric charging stations across the United States. View this map to see which facilities are currently available in your area.

     

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) recently celebrated progress in vehicle technology with a car show on their campus grounds.  Vintage cars from the 1930s were parked alongside muscle cars from the 1960s and today’s new electric vehicles.  The occasion coincided with the lab’s new solar-assisted charging stations, which were commissioned in June.  These new stations, which use solar canopies to supplement the charging of vehicles parked at workplaces during the day, lend themselves to zero emissions vehicles.  These twenty-five new solar-assisted stations join the six already existing stations at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in Knoxville.  And the good news is that even more charging stations are planned for the state of Tennessee. 

Embracing electric powered vehicle technology is a big step toward reducing our dependence on the combustion of fossil fuels to meet our transportation needs. The development of a widespread public charging infrastructure at commercial facilities and workplaces, in addition to private residences, will ultimately reduce overall transportation costs.  With increased access to charging stations, vehicle battery sizes can be smaller, thus reducing the cost of these green vehicles and lowering overall charge time.  A recent study conducted at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), identifies charging station requirements for all electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs).  Not only do the requirements depend on driving habits, but also on such factors as: charge energy, charge power, and charge times.

For those individuals interested in making the switch to electric, information and tips on buying and maintaining electric vehicles is readily available online: see Plug In America and Clean Fleet Report.  However, more complex decisions regarding the location and type of public charging stations remain the purview of state and local governments.  In the future, charging stations may become available along major transportation corridors.  The road leading there however, will depend a great deal on the feedback gleaned between infrastructure improvements and technological developments.

Photos courtesy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory/U.S. Department of Energy

Content for this Blog post courtesy of Joanna McFarlane, Oak Ridge National Laboratory