Chicago based 350 Green has recently installed 8 of its 480V fast chargers at Chicago toll road plazas in cooperation with the 7-11 convenience food Chain, and 26 of the 480V units elsewhere. The program is financially supported by the City Of Chicago.
Initial pricing was set at $7 for a 15 minute charge. This level of charge was said to provide approximate half charge of a typical electric car such as the Nissan Leaf. A spokesman for Nissan acknowledged this and said it would translate into about 30-40 added miles of travel.
The plan is for electric car owners to purchase $21 3 charge debit cards via one’s credit card at 350 Green’s web site. The debit cards are then mailed to motorists for use at the firm’s charging outlets.
Marianna Gerzanych, co-founder and CEO of 360 Green in an interview with AUTOMOTOVIE INDUSTRIES says the firm has since revised its services
formula which is now priced at $7 for charging a battery from 10% capacity to 70% in 30 minutes. She also explains that the same $7 charge will apply for bringing a battery at 40% up to 80-85% charge also in 30 minutes.
She added that the first cost of installing individual 480V charging outlets is $70-80,000, but that 350 Green is also installing 220V outlets for multi hour charging at a cost of about $7-8,000 per unit in places where electric cars may be parked for a number of hours such as public and private garages, and malls. She indicated charging at 220V for a number of hours would also be at the $7 price.
Looking ahead, 350 Green acknowledges that utilization of its public charging outlets will be limited until the size of the electric vehicle fleet grows. The firm’s current expectation is for 30,000 electric cars in the greater Chicago area in 2015.
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