For those who haven't yet put a home 'charger' in ... I myself know nothing of Blink as they were never out here in the midwest but I'm sure our west coast forum members may have a lot to say about them as well as check the Blink specific threads elsewhere on the forum; I'm quite happy with my choice of EVSE's (a Schneider EVlink installed by my own hand-picked electrician, unit + install offset by a 50% rebate from IL Commerce) but nice to see more alternatives for the next wave of EV's in IL:
EV Project offers Free Blink® Chargers to EV Drivers and Commercial Host Sites in Chicago
SAN FRANCISCO and CHICAGO – Wednesday, August 1, 2012 – ECOtality, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECTY), a leader in clean electric transportation and storage technologies, announced today it will offer its Blink® smart charging stations free to residents and commercial host sites of the greater metropolitan Chicago area as part of its expansion of The EV Project, a public-private partnership with the Department of Energy.
“Now residents and businesses in Northern Illinois interested in electric transportation in the Chicago region can join The EV Project and help us build a nationwide network of electric vehicle charging stations”, said Don Karner, Chief Innovation Officer of ECOtality, Inc. “By signing up for a free charger, EV owners can take part in this massive research project that can help reduce our country’s dependence on foreign oil. We are excited about bringing The EV Project to the greater Chicago region. With the expansion of this new market, The EV project is now in nine states and 21 major metropolitan areas throughout the country.”
Qualified Chicago-area residents, who have taken ownership of either the Nissan LEAF or Chevy Volt, will receive a free residential Blink wall mount charger as well as an installation credit up to $400, subject to certain conditions. Residents and commercial hosts interested in participating can sign up at http://www.theevproject.com/sign-up.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; or by emailing
[email protected].
“ComEd is pleased to be a utility partner to the EV Project”, said Michael McMahan, ComEd’s vice president of Smart Grid and Technology. “The Chicago region is quickly becoming nationally recognized as a leader in the deployment of EV charging infrastructure. The EV Project complements the extensive work that ComEd has done to date in collaboration with other Illinois stakeholders to prepare the region for consumer adoption of EVs, and we look forward to supporting the EV Project.”
To learn more about The EV Project opportunities in the Chicago area and meet with local EV experts, save the date for a Host Partners Forum on August 20th at the InterContinental at 10 am CT. Details on this event will be released through a media advisory and on Blink’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blinknetwork" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
ECOtality is the project manager of The EV Project, a research initiative to help build America’s future EV infrastructure. To date, The EV Project has gathered more than 33 million miles of EV driver data that will serve to support the deployment of EVs in key markets. The project is a public-private partnership, funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy through a federal stimulus grant and made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). For more information about The EV Project, please visit http://www.theevproject.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
If you don't do it you cannot drive safely, but by doing it you know that you probably won't make it home. This happened to me once during the last winter. But I had scouted out and tested the charging stations along my route ahead of time and had several options when disaster struck. I ended up doing some early grocery shopping while getting an hour of free juice. I did have to dig out the car and clear the snow afterwards though. My solution for the coming winter is to just not drive under these conditions. I'll just wait until after rush hour has passed.
