Credit: Volkswagen
BMW, Volkswagen will help ChargePoint to create express charging corridors for electric vehicles (EVs) on the East and West Coasts. The publicly available charging stations will be added to the existing ChargePoint network and will make it very easy to use.
Two of the most renowned automakers, BMW of North America and Volkswagen of America will work together with ChargePoint at the 2015 Washington Auto Show. ChargePoint is the largest electric vehicle charging network in America.
Now these companies have announced their plan to develop and create express charging corridors along heavily-traveled routes on the East and West Coasts. These have been designed to increase the number of fast charging locations and this project will help in catering the growing demand for publicly available electric vehicle fast chargers.
These fast chargers include direct current (DC) Fast charging locations and support the adoption of electric vehicles in the United States. The starting aim of this project is to install nearly 100 DC Fast chargers across both coasts along with plans to expand this program.
The expansion basically aims to increase access to fast charging across the country. Moreover these newly installed DC Fast chargers will be added to the growing ChargePoint network of more than 20,000 charging spots in North America.
The United States has been the buyer of more than 280,000 electric vehicles and that is why the Electric Vehicle owners need more charging flexibility on the go. These express charging corridors that will be set up in this program will provide electric vehicle drivers access to DC Fast chargers along with the most heavily populated and highly trafficked regions on Interstate 95 on the east coast which is from Boston to Washington, D.C and the west coast which covers the areas of San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.
These installations will take place both within and between the relevant areas. Moreover these installations will be strategically spaced at a maximum of 50 miles apart. This will definitely make the lives of EV owners very easy and simple and make long road trips even easier.
Robert Healey the Head of EV Infrastructure at BMW of North America stated that a planned network of conveniently located DC Fast charging stations will be a huge help in increasing electric vehicle adoption and making electric vehicle ownership even more enjoyable.
Moreover he also stated that the express charging corridors that will be set up in this program are a very important step in the development of the U.S e-mobility infrastructure. This makes longer distance travel a real option for the consumers and will make the BMW’s i3 and other electric vehicles of the company even more appealing.
So each of these fast charging locations that will be placed along the express charging corridors is expected to have around two 50 kW DC Fast chargers or 24 kW DC Combo Fast chargers with the SAE Combo connector.
You will also be happy to hear that installations have already started on the west coast. Well this program will surely make BMW and Volkswagen quite famous among the Electric Vehicle consumers.