Electric cars have their supporters. Want proof? How about the so-called EV Corridor that now links Los Angeles to San Francisco. There are now five (!) 240-volt, 70-ampere stations spread out between California's two most major cities. Wow! Great! Right?
Sure, if you're driving a Tesla Roadster along Highway 101. The quick two-seater is about the only vehicle that can benefit from the charging stations. With only a few hundred Teslas on the road, the charging stations shouldn't ever be too busy. With charge times of up to three hours, we guess that's a good thing.
Representatives from SolarCity stated that the stations will be retrofitted with new universal charging connectors in several months. While this expands the units' usefulness to a wider range of electrically-powered vehicles, including neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs), then the issue of waiting times may become more of an issue.
Thankfully, the charging stations have been placed in or near retail areas, so at least EV motorists will have somewhere to kill the time they're waiting for electrons to make it from the grid into their EV's batteries. Charging is free, at least for now, another plus.
The units were paid for by SolarCity, Rabobank, Tesla, and a grant from the California Air Resources Board.
SolarCity is a full-service provider of photovoltaic systems for residential and commercial applications. The Rabobank Group is an international financial services provider based in the Netherlands. The bank fancies itself as a corporate do-gooder, and this is their way of adding momentum to the renewable fuels movement in the United States. Rabobank picks up the tab for the juice ... as if Tesla drivers need this type of financial incentive to use their $106,000 vehicles.
Curiously, even with SolarCity's involvement, only one of the stations actually runs on solar power. Plans for more solar input are on the table, but the timing is farther out than swapping out the electrical connectors.