The EV Project is the largest deployment of electric vehicles and charge infrastructure in history.
On August 5, 2009, ECOtality North America was awarded a $99.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to embark on this Project. The Project was officially launched on October 1, 2009, and is expected to conclude in 2013. With partner match and the additional $15 million from the DOE in 2010, the total value of the project is now approximately $230 million. With the assistance of more than forty partners, The EV Project will deliver nearly 15,000 residential and commercial chargers to 16 cities in six states and the District of Columbia, and will pave the way for the successful rollout of electric transportation across America.
West Coast states and cities were big winners in this award. Washington (Seattle), Oregon (Portland, Eugene, Corvallis, and Salem), and California (Los Angeles and San Diego) are the majority beneficiaries of the project. Nissan North American and General Motors/Chevrolet have already begun the deployment of 5,700 Nissan Leaf and 2,600 Chevrolet Volt cars in these markets.
The mission of the Project is to evaluate the use of electric vehicles and charging systems in diverse geographies and climates, then to use that information to build a foundation that will optimize adoption of electric vehicles nationwide. The ultimate goal of The EV Project is to take the lessons learned from the deployment of these first 8,300 EVs, and the charging infrastructure supporting them, to enable the streamlined deployment of the next 5,000,000 EVs.
