Nissan, BP and the City of Paris together for the opening of the First CHAdeMO Fast Charging Station inside the city

Invited by Nissan few days ago, I could not attend this event, but here are some pictures ...

Nissan, BP and the City of Paris gathered today for the opening of the First CHAdeMO Fast Charging Station inside the city




It should be free to Fast Charge your EV there for at least a year, as Nissan charging stations installation plan says: They provide the Charger, and the City and the BP gas station payed for the installation / wiring - which can be more than the cost of the Fast Charger itself -

It is located in a BP gas station, near Peripherique - the "ring" around Paris - at the south Ouest of the city

Check this gas rates out ! and the New EV Charge Sign ! Very cool


This BP station had been well known from the first Electric Car drivers in the mid 90's charging their car there to be able to go back home ...


Even a Tesla Model S was there, using the Type 2 European standard charge port


Chargemap is already referencing it and I stole few pics from their website


Same for the Renault ZOE, with its Type 2 frontal charge port

I could not attend ... Sorry I was working ;-) but I am planning on visiting next week end, this special gas station ...

Some pics stolen from Automobile Propre

Ikea Fast Charging & Swedish Meat Balls Lunch

Last thursday, I went to IKEA for a little shopping and also a DC Fast Charge, few kilometers away from work during lunch break

6 bars / 12 : roughly half state of charge - SOC -

A woman interested in Fast Charging :-)

Actually I got many people looking at me parking on this spot and commenting: "This must be an Electric Car ..." and think it requires this huge Charging Station to fill up ...

CHAdeMO Yazaki Connector in place

Starting the Charge at 55%

Charge begins and it says: Voltage: 390V, Current 90A

Plugged in, Charging, in the sun, I am going in to eat something now !

IKEA's Special: Swedish Meat Balls and French Fries :-) not bad

LEAF Link App says 80% state of Charge is already reach while I am still in the middle of my lunch 

Swedish life style ... gotta love it  !

I went there to get table feet : 4 x 2.5 EUR per piece, a bargain

I know these ... I use one of them for my DIY ESS, the older grey version; Now they are available in Red and White only, but you can still find used older version in grey ...  

Install your ESS in it and put your TV on top !

After getting 4 iron table feet for 10 bucks (EUR), I finally got out of IKEA ...

Charge is over: 98% SOC, it took 60mn, 11.3kWh used

100% charge !

BTW, right next to the DBT Charging Station spot is the Autolib Charging Spot, and a Renault ZOE was parked there, charging, using its own cable

Type 2 / Mennekes connector into the ZOE

Type 3 plug, used only in France ... not for long anymore, Type 2 is now adopted by us too ...

Notice that IKEA / Autolib Charging Stations include the Scooter 220V Regular Outlet, so I could slow charge there too ... if I had the Autolib EV card - 180 EUR / Year, 15 EUR / Month -

The next, I went back there with my son to show him my work location and office building nearby and get some stainless steel wall covers for the kitchen and some Swedish crepes ...

A liitle comment to DBT CEV fast charging station maker: we can not see links between the screen and the buttons when in the dark ... 

Other than that, we got a 80% charge very quickly and a spot right in front of he entrance while raining a lot 

New EV Quick Charger website platform by DBT-CEV

DBT CEV making and installing CHAdeMO DC Fast Chargers given by Nissan in Europe has launched a dedicated website to help locate them 

" We’re launching a new mini-website dedicated to the “European Quick Charging Network” Program currently lead by our partner Nissan Europe. With already 200 fast chargers installed in more than 15 countries across the continent (from Moscow to Dublin, from Norway to Italy) European drivers of fast charging compatible electric vehicles (Nissan™, Renault™, Citroën™, Peugeot™, Mitsubishi™, Toyota™, …) are now able to charge 100% of their battery in less than 30 minutes. This new “UNIVERSAL QUICK CHARGER” website allows you to localize currently available fast chargers as well as discover our full line of universal quick chargers, whatever your charging need (parking lot, highway stop, shopping center, railway station, etc.). "

Check it out here http://www.universal-quick-charger.com



Source: DBT CEV 

Nissan and DBT-CEV installed a Fast Charging Station between Rennes and Nantes (France)

Nissan and DBT-CEV just finish the installation of a Fast Charging Station between two French big cities, Rennes and Nantes, at a small supermarket called U Express near Grand Fougeray

This is good news and it is the way to go : "Inter-City Fast Charging"  like Jack Rickard always says: "You don't need Level 2 charging stations in town", because most of the time you charged at home and with higher range in EVs nowadays, most likely you will fill up at home again when you're back from town; But if you have to go far, then you will for sure need to charge on the way, and quickly, and that is when and where you need DC or AC fast chargers ...



Following Nissan's rules, these chargers are given but the charge has to be free for at least one year (free electricity paid by the store owner)

Here is the ChargeMap point for this charge location: http://fr.chargemap.com/points/details/u-express-grand-fougeray with all the details

Some locals alreday tried it yesterday and took some pictures available on the ChargeMap link above; Here is one of them:

Estonia is first country to operate a nationwide EV charging network of 165 DC fast chargers

World’s first nationwide EV charging network starts – based on ABB fast charger technology

Zurich, Switzerland, Feb. 20, 2013 – Estonia has become the world’s first country to launch a nationwide fast-charging network for electric vehicles, using technology provided by ABB, the leading power and automation technology group.

The network of 165 web-connected direct current (DC) fast chargers, supplied and built by ABB, was officially opened on Wednesday. The chargers are installed in urban areas with more than 5,000 inhabitants, and on major roads throughout the country, creating the highest concentration of DC chargers in Europe. On highways, the chargers are never more than 60km apart, making it possible for electric vehicles to travel anywhere within the Baltic state without running out of power.


“ABB is delighted to have built the world’s first nationwide electric fast-charging network in Estonia,” said Ulrich Spiesshofer, head of ABB’s Discrete Automation and Motion division. “Having a nationwide fast-charging network will encourage motorists to switch to electric vehicles and it will motivate other countries to invest in their own charging infrastructure.”

Unlike conventional residential power outlets, which take up to eight hours to charge an electric vehicle, ABB’s Terra 51 DC fast chargers need only 15-30 minutes to do the job. The fast-charging stations comply with the CHAdeMO charging standard and can be used for charging vehicles with DC of up to 50 kilowatts (kW) as well as with alternating current (AC) of up to 22kW. The methods can be used simultaneously, if necessary.

“The fact that recharging is so easy is one of the main reasons more and more Estonians will decide in favor of electric cars in future,” said Estonia’s Minister of the Environment, Keit Pentus-Rosimannus. “Our entire transport policy should be based on the notion that environmentally friendly travel is the cheapest and simplest option there is.”

ABB won the contract in 2011 and completed the network in just six months. The contract includes a five-year agreement to provide technical network operating support services for the chargers, which are connected to the central system via an Internet connection, as well as backbone IT architecture. The commercial operation to serve the Estonian EV drivers is handled by local third parties, and is based on a payment platform from parking industry.

Alongside the comprehensive charging infrastructure, Estonia offers subsidies of up to 50 percent of the purchase price of electric vehicles to encourage their adoption.

Source: ABB

Nissan to triple number of EV fast-chargers in the U.S.

Nissan is looking to make it easier for U.S. owners of its LEAF and other electric vehicles to charge their batteries when out and about. Over the next 18 months the automaker plans to add at least 500 quick-charging stations across the country, with the roll out to include the first fast-charge network for the greater Washington D.C. area.

Nissan estimates there are currently only around 160 fast chargers available for public use across the U.S., a number that is sure to exacerbate many an EV owner’s range anxiety and keep many of them tethered fairly close to home. A tripling of the existing fast-charger count will provide additional charging options and, Nissan no doubt is hoping, improve sales of EVs.

In partnership with NRG Energy, whose eVgo Network currently operates in Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth, Nissan says it will work with its dealers and local municipalities to provide extra charging options through its dealer network, workplace campus locations and within local neighborhoods where drivers spend the bulk of their time.

A major part of the charging infrastructure expansion will be a network of 40 eVgo Freedom sites across the greater Washington D.C. area that will each have a Nissan fast charger that can provide an 80 percent charge in less than 30 minutes. NRG has also announced similar networks for the San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Joaquin Valley areas.

As well as the 500 public fast-chargers it plans to install in the next 18 months, Nissan says it is looking to increase on the roughly 1,500 charging stations currently available in workplaces by getting companies who already offer such technology to share their experiences with companies interested in getting on board.



Source: Gizmag & Nissan

CHAdeMO : The Number of DC Fast Chargers has Doubled in One Year

TOKYO, Japan (January 22, 2013) – In just 12 months, the number of globally installed Electric Vehicle (EV) quick-chargers has doubled

As the name implies, quick-chargers recharge batteries in minutes rather than hours, to build range confidence of an EV and greatly enhance the practicality of zero-emission transport

Commenting on reaching the milestone of more than 2,000 CHAdeMO quick-chargers, Toshiyuki Shiga, President of the CHAdeMO Association – the driving force behind the global spread of quick-charging infrastructure ¬– said: “One year ago there were around 1,000 quick-chargers in the world, but most of those were in Japan

Today, we have more than 2,000 CHAdeMO quick-chargers in place in Europe and the US as well as Japan. There’ s even a” CHAdeMO quick-charger in oil-rich Abu Dhabi. And plans are in place to more than double this figure again, above 4,000, by the end of 2013"

The number of CHAdeMO DC Quick charger installed up to today is 2364.

-- (Japan 1605 Europe 601 USA 154 Others 4) last update 2013.01.31

Evolution of the number of CHAdeMO fast charging station

Locations of DC Fast Chargers Worldwide (click for Google Maps detailed locations)

Links:
Locations of all CHAdeMO Charging Stations
CHAdeMO Press Release


Source : CHAdeMO Association

Nissan to install 400 Charge Stations in France by the end of 2012

2012 Paris Motor Show

Good news !

Nissan forecasts the installation of more than 400 Charge Stations in France by the end of 2012:

- 45 DC Fast Chargers in Nissan dealership

- 40 DC Fast Chargers, interconnecting major cities

- 320 regular 220V outlets, spread all around the hexagone