BMW, Ford and IKEA are among 70 organisations pledging to help the deployment of electric vehicles in the northeastern US.
The Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) launched the Northeast Electric Vehicle Network late last year to enable drivers from northern New England to the District of Columbia plug-in electric vehicles wherever they go.
The initiative is being managed by the Georgetown Climate Center in Washington DC, which works with state and federal officials to help bridge the gap between transportation and climate policy.
Also taking part are National Grid, members of Ceres’ BICEP including Starbucks, Nike and eBay, and Frito Lay, which already has 47 electric trucks operating in the region and plans to add a further 30 to its fleet this year.
TCI is also being assisted by electric vehicle infrastructure specialists like ECOtality, Coulomb Technologies and AeroVironment to help understand how to overcome the obstacles to deploying the new technology.
“Many of these companies have long been supporters of electric vehicles,” says Beverley Swaim-Staley, Secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation. “Our goal here is to get everyone working together – both the public and the private sector – so that our region can… the way in the deployment of electric vehicles.”
The initiative is also being supported by The Climate Group, the cities of Albany, Baltimore, and local energy suppliers.
For further information:
www.georgetownclimate.org/transportation
Related stories:
US west coast ‘electric highway’ reaches Canada (31-May)
Illinois governor rolls out electric vehicle fast charging network (13-Apr)
California Governor puts 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road (26-Mar)
NRG Energy plugs $100 million into Californian electric car network (26-Mar)
Article source: http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/5209/
