Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Cars
  3. News

California breaks ground on new electric car fast-charging corridor

Stephen Edelstein
By

2016 Nissan Leaf
Image used with permission by copyright holder
If you drive an electric car, California is a great place to be. It’s the only U.S. state that actually requires manufacturers to sell zero-emission vehicles, and it offers generous incentives to get people to buy them. Next year, California electric car drivers will get one more perk.

Northern California will soon get a new network of DC fast-charging stations for electric cars. Called DRIVEtheARC, it will place 50 individual fast-charging stations at “more than 20 high-traffic locations” between Monterey and Lake Tahoe, according to a press release about the corridor’s groundbreaking. One of many charging-infrastructure projects in the state, it’s expected to be completed in March 2017. DC fast-charging stations can generally provide an 80 percent charge in around 30 minutes, although charge times can vary by car.

Recommended Videos

The network is the result of a partnership between the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (known as Go-Biz) and Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), a quasi-governmental entity that funds and manages technology-related R&D projects. The two groups are also working with Nissan, Kanematsu, and EVgo on the project.

Related

Kanematsu will develop a smartphone app specifically for DRIVEtheARC users, which will allow them to find stations and check if they are vacant. The app will also collect data that will be made available to users, but will also be analyzed by the project’s various stakeholders to better understand charging-station usage. Data will be collected and analyzed through September 2020.

Participation in DRIVEtheARC is the latest step in Nissan’s ongoing effort to expand the network of fast-charging stations for its Leaf electric car. It predicts 2,000 stations will be operation in the United States by next year, up from 250 in 2013. EVgo, one of the largest operators of public charging stations, will oversee installation of the DRIVEtheARC stations.

More charging stations will make life more convenient for electric car drivers, and potentially convince more consumers to switch over from internal-combustion cars. Fast-charging stations in particular help enable long road trips by allowing drivers to charge in a relatively short time, while still covering long distances on each charge.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Stephen Edelstein
Stephen Edelstein
Contributing Editor
Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…
Tesla’s new million-mile battery could finally make electric cars affordable
Tesla

Tesla plans to debut low-cost electric car batteries that can last up to a million miles and could make electric Tesla models the same price or even less than a car run by gasoline. 

These low-cost batteries would first appear in Tesla’s Model 3 in China later this year or early 2021. Other markets, like North America, would follow after, according to an exclusive report from Reuters. 

Read more
Tesla delivers first electric cars from its new factory in China
A red Tesla Model 3 at dusk.

Tesla is now building electric cars in the world's largest new-car market. The Silicon Valley automaker delivered the first cars from a new factory in China to Tesla employees on Monday, according to CNN.

Just 15 employees received Tesla Model 3 electric cars in that first batch. During an event commemorating the first deliveries, Wang Hao, general manager of Tesla China, told CNN that more cars would be delivered to Tesla employees over the next couple of days, while other customers would begin receiving cars next month. In the past, Tesla has reserved the first examples of new models for employees of investors.

Read more
Google Maps makes it easier to find EV charging stations via plug type
France Gas Ban EV Charging

In a move that could save electric-car owners precious time each day, Google Maps has rolled out a new feature that lets you more easily confirm the plug types used at nearby charging stations.

Different models of electric vehicles (EVs) use different connectors, for example, BMW and Volkswagen EVs use CCS for fast charging, Nissan and Mitsubishi use CHAdeMO, and Tesla has its proprietary supercharger design. Spotted by Android Police, the new Google Maps feature adds a drop-down menu that appears when you begin a search for nearby charging stations. The menu lists all of the available connectors at nearby stations, and tapping on the connector that fits your vehicle quickly filters the results.

Read more