Quick Charge

Kia will add electric-vehicle charging stations at dealerships throughout Oregon, Washington, Texas, and Georgia as it gets ready to sell more Soul EVs.

Northern California Nissan Leaf owners may be in for their own San Francisco Treat of sorts, as the automaker said it's planning to deploy more quick-charging stations that will be accessible to the electric vehicles, Plug In Car reports.

Supplying energy for cars on the move is an important piece of the electric vehicle puzzle and in this regard Tesla Motors is taking a unique approach. At some time in the future – the company is not saying when, exactly – it plans to reveal what it calls its Supercharger network.

One of the major drawbacks of electric vehicles – aside from limited range – is lengthy recharge times. Stopping for a quick fill is the norm with fossil-fueled vehicles, but not so with plug-ins. Nissan is working on a solution to the problem, though: a ten-minute charger.

Stemming from an agreement signed back in September of 2010, Eaton Corporation and Murphy Oil USA have revealed what's believed to be the nation's first Level 3 quick-charge unit installed at, wait for it, a gas station.

Nissan has teamed up with leading European firms, including Circutor, DBT, Efacec, Endesa and Siemens, to speed development and installation of public-access quick-charge stations across Europe.

Nissan Motor Co. revealed what might just be the world's cheapest quick-charge station. Priced below $10,000 and set to go on sale in November, Nissan's newly-developed quick-charge unit takes up significantly less space than most competing Level 3 chargers and is supposedly easier to install, too.

Nissan executive vice-president Andy Palmer is one chatty man. Late last week, Palmer headed a Q&A session with Nissan Global Media Center. While much of the discussion focused on electric vehicles, it's Palmer's answer to question number nine that piqued our curiosity:

The Oregon Department of Transportation has turned to AeroVironment to install quick-charge stations along the I-5 corridor from California in the south to the Willamette Valley region in the north. This install is part of the West Coast Green Highway project – a vision for a consistent charging infrastructure spanning the West Coast from San Diego, CA to Vancouver, B.C.

In preparation for the December launch of its Leaf EV, Nissan has developed its own electric vehicle charge station that will be installed at all of its dealers in Japan.

As electric vehicles (EVs) slowly emerge back into the transportation picture after 100 years of semi-hibernation, consumers may be faced with a paradigm quite different from the regular visits to the gas station most are used to. The three leading new options to re-supply our autos with energy are charging at home, battery swap stations and fast charge stations. There are proponents of each method and, though all three could be used,