Data Points - November 3, 2011

Electric Vehicles & More

“Electric vehicle mecca:” Palo Alto, Calif. wants to become the “mecca” of EVs, according to a Palo Alto Daily News article. The article also referred to the city as “ground zero of the zero-emission vehicle movement.” The city is reportedly “averaging 20 permit requests per month for charging stations.”

Is a fast charging solution coming? According to a news release posted, among other places, to Ford’s media page, “Recognizing the importance of a single international approach for DC fast charging, Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche and Volkswagen have agreed on the combined charging system as an international standardized approach to charge electric vehicles (EV) in Europe and the United States.”

Read more reports about the need for DC Fast Charging in the August Special Reports filed from the PlugIn2011 conference and show.

Fed Ex shifting to efficient vehicles: A FedEx blog entry by a company employee details what the company is doing on vehicles, including its work with Eaton.  

Not enough charging stations: Chinese car-maker and EV supplier BYD supposedly has said that a lack of public charging stations (especially in California, apparently) dictated BYD’s decision to delay plans to launch an EV in the U.S.

Ten Northeast state form EV charging network: The goal of the Northeast Electric Vehicle Network is, “To accelerate the development of infrastructure such as electric vehicle charging stations needed to drive market demand for electric vehicles,” according to a news release from New Jersey, one of the 10 states involved.