Brightfield featured in Business North Carolina Magazine

Brightfield featured in Business North Carolina Magazine

Electric Avenue
Vehicle-charging stations remain scarce in North Carolina, but a surge may be nearing.

See full article here.

When Randy Talley drives up the Blue Ridge Parkway, he sometimes wonders whether he’ll have enough charge to make it home at night. Talley owns a Nissan Leaf, a plug-in electric vehicle with a range of about 90 miles on a single charge. It’s a fun ride, and he loves zipping around town in it, especially since an electric vehicle charging station is 400 yards from his office door. But a trip to the mountains, where charging stations are scarce, involves some risk.

Brightfield® Greenlots DC Fast Charger Pricing Policies

Effective 3/19/15; Applies to all Brightfield/Greenlots DC Fast Chargers;BrightFieldTS_Brandmark_R Don’t have a Greenlots RFID card? Get one here. The Brightfield DCFC Public Rate is $12/hr. The rate is pro-rated by the minute. Our Signet units can put out up to 50 kW, tapering off after EV battery is 80% full.  Most EV’s (such as Nissan Leaf) will receive full charge in under 30 minutes = $6. Be sure to install the Greenlot’s App on your smart phone, so you can mange your account, scan QR codes if you do not have a RFID card, and monitor your charging. Are you a frequent Brightfield Charging Station customer? If so, you can request a charging discount.  Simply send an email info@brightfieldts.com with “Charge Discount Request” in the subject line. Please include your name, organization affiliation (if relevant), phone number, email address, and Greenlots user name (se we can activate discount).  All information will be kept 100% private. Charge at Brightfield Charging Stations and your driving on sunshine!  It feels good to be Solar Driven®. Solar Driven
BTS chargers are on the Nationwide Chargepoint Network

Brightfield® ChargePoint Level 2 Pricing Policy

Effective 5/9/14; Applies to all Brightfield ChargePoint Level 2 Chargers;BrightFieldTS_Brandmark_03 Don’t have a Chargepoint card? Get one here. The Brightfield Public Rate has been lowered from $1.50 to $1.25/hour for the 1st 4-hours in order to support EV market development. The rate raises to $2/hour for hours 5 and beyond.  Rates are measured by the minute as long as the plug is connected to the EV. Additionally, there is a $0.25 fee for accessing the charger per charge event. Be sure to install the ChargePoint App on your smartphone, so the charger can notify you when your EV is at full charge. Are you a frequent user of Brightfield’s?  1)      If you would like to request a discount at Brightfield locations, request through “Connections” button within your Chargepoint driver profile here. BTS is now publicly listed under “Connections”. 2)      You may be granted a discounted rate once we receive the request from you. 3)      Please be sure to include all requested information (name, organization, position, cell and email). Requests without full contact information will not be approved. Charge at Brightfield Charging Stations and your driving on sunshine!  It feels good to be Solar Driven®. BTS Plug In
BioWheels RTS and Eaton teamed up to show UNCA how EVSE will serve their campus.

UNC-Asheville Brightfield® is Charging EVs at Reuters Center

BioWheels RTS and Eaton teamed up to show UNCA how EVSE will serve their campus.

Brightfield TS and Eaton teamed up with UNCA to install chargers on campus.

In cooperation with Eaton Corporation and UNCA, Brightfield TS is proud to announce that our Eaton Pow-R-Stations are fully functional. These 2 chargers represent our 4th site in Asheville. “We selected the Reuters Center because a high percentage of Center participants drive hybrid electric vehicles. When we did our site analysis, we found that almost 10% of the vehicles in the lot were hybrids. That indicated to us that the Reuters Center was a likely early EV adopter hub,” commented Stan Cross, Co-Founder of BTS. These chargers are FREE to use through July of 2012.
Brightfield Lite and Charging Bollard

Left- Stand-Alone Brightfield Charging Bollard, Right- Brightfield T1. Both equipped with Eaton Pow-R-Station

“As interest in EVs grows, the Brightfield® T1 is a demonstration of the smallest of our Brightfield products, ideal for homes and tight infill locations. Its 2 kilowatt array will create enough electricity to drive the average electric car on sunshine 10,000 miles annually. This is an important installation because it also shows our stand-alone patent-pending Brightfield® Charging Bollard”, reports Matt Johnson, Co-Founder of BTS.  The Bollard is an identifiable and durable mounting system for electric vehicle chargers in institutional and municipal settings.      
Asheville Public Works Ribbon Cutting

Brightfield® Charging Stations Also Improve EV Indoor Air Quality

BioWheels RTS Brightfield Solar Integrated Electric Vehicle Charging Station NovaCharge president, Helda Rodriquez, has installed hundreds of EV chargers.  This is what she has to say about the one of the added values of the Brightfield Charging Station: “Brightfields are the perfect solution to improve air quality all the way around.   They generate clean energy.  They power clean vehicles.  They provide shade and shelter making the vehicle safer for the driver because the car is kept cool and heat-generated toxins are not released inside the car.  And, by reducing the temperature inside the vehicle, Brightfields increase EV mileage by not requiring the AC system to have to work as hard to bring the vehicle to a comfortable temperature.” All that adds up to a healthier experience for the driver, less pollution, and greater EV range. To learn more about the toxicity of car interiors and how to avoid exposure, follow this link:
Asheville Public Works Ribbon Cutting- Scott Hamilton

First Brightfield™ Installation a Success

Asheville Public Works Ribbon Cutting

Nova Charge President Helda Rodriguez and Asheville’s first Chevy Volt owner James Brazell celebrate the ribbon cutting.

By all measures,  Brightfield’s ribbon cutting was a success.  Over 200 people and nearly a dozen media outlets gathered to hear our Congressman, Mayor, NC Deputy Secretary of Commerce, and AdvantageWest CEO speak about Brightfield demonstrating innovation, job creation, and clean energy and transportation solutions. The Asheville Citizen Times gave Brightfield  an “A” for the event and the unveiling of our vision to make Asheville America’s first EV travel destination where tourists can come and have a Solar Driven™ EV experience: A to Brightfield Transportation Solutions, a new alternative energy company, which opened its first Brightfield solar-powered charging station for electric vehicles Monday in the parking lot of the city Public Works Building on Charlotte Street. It’s the first of four stations which will open in the next few weeks, and funded through a $376,000 grant from the federal stimulus. The system was designed and manufactured in the Asheville area from American materials, supporting local jobs while cutting down on fossil fuel use and greenhouse gases. BTS co-founder Stan Cross said the company wants to brand Asheville as a tourism destination for visitors who can rent electric vehicles and drive the mountains “fueled by sunshine.” To read stories in the news about the ribbon cutting event and view photos from the day, check out the links below (note that at the time of this ribbon cutting, Brightfield Transportation Solutions was called BioWheels Responsible Transportation Solutions): http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=B0&Dato=20111212&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=312120051&Ref=PH&referrer=PHOTOFEATURE http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011312120023 http://www.mountainx.com/article/38228/Ashevilles-first-electric-vehicle-charging-station-opens-Monday-Dec.-12-at-Charlotte-and-Eagle http://www.mountainx.com/article/38305/NCs-first-solar-vehicle-charging-station-dedicated#

Brightfield™ Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Arrive in Asheville

When Gary Ball of Candler-based Balls Machine and Manufacturing Company was approached by BioWheels Responsible Transportation Solutions (RTS), a local renewable energy and alternative transportation start-up, to build the structural components for the innovative Brightfields™ solar power generating electric vehicle charging stations, he didn’t hesitate to say yes. “We’ve been looking to grow our capacity to support the needs of the renewable energy sector for years,” says Ball. “Manufacturing durable electric vehicle charging stations that integrate solar power production is the type of project we can get excited about.” He’s not the only one excited. Early this year, BioWheels RTS was awarded a sizable grant from the North Carolina Green Business Fund—a fund established by the State to encourage green sector growth. The young company has forged public/private partnerships with Asheville City, and Buncombe County and UNC Asheville. The results of these partnerships will be four solar power generating Brightfield™ electric vehicle charging stations installed throughout Asheville. “Our vision is build strong community partnerships to get the infrastructure on the ground that will prepare our region for electric vehicle ownership,” says Matt Johnson, president of BioWheels RTS and owner of the local BioWheels cycling shop. “And we’re determined to show that we can fuel electric vehicles with solar power. When we harvest our fuel locally from sun from locally manufactured charging stations our fuel dollars stay in the local economy.” Work on the first Brightfield™ Charging Station has begun in the Asheville City Public Administration Building parking lot on the corner of Charlotte and Eagle Street. The station will generate 5 KW of solar energy annually and be equipped with 3 electric vehicle chargers. Additional stations will be constructed at Land of Sky Regional Council off Leicester Hwy, on the UNCA campus, and at the BioWheels store on Cox Ave. “With our Brightfields™, we’re challenging folks to think beyond coal and nuclear energy and seize the very real opportunity to drive on sunshine,” says Johnson. “These 5 KW installs are just the beginning. We’ve determined how many megawatts of solar power we need to generate to meet NC’s forecasted electric vehicle demand and we’re working state-wide with the renewable energy sector and our utilities to get that renewable energy on the grid.” BioWheels RTS is an example of what Matt Raker, VP of Entrepreneurship & AdvantageGreen for economic development group AdvantageWest, is working hard to foster in WNC. “The region recently contracted with Angelou Economics to identify our best opportunities for economic growth and job creation. The in-depth study concluded that renewable energy and alternative transportation are the two most promising sectors for WNC,” says Raker. “As a result, the region has formed Evolve Energy Partnerships, which will work to leverage our existing and emerging clean tech expertise to bring economic growth opportunities and jobs to the mountains.” And that makes Gary Ball happy. “If we’re going to keep our manufacturing tradition alive then we need to adapt. Growing our renewable energy and alternative transportation sectors means jobs in my machine shop,” he says. “Everything BioWheels RTS does is about building a more durable and resilient WNC,” says Johnson. “We’re fortunate to have so many talented people here in our community willing and able to role up their sleeves and get to work creating a desirable future today.”
BioWheels RTS Bollard Charge Plug

Why Integrate Solar Power and Electric Vehicle Charging?

By integrating solar power production with EV charging the Brightfield™ Charging Station concept solves three critical issues: it moves us away from fossil fuel, it generates revenue while EV charging demand grows, and it provides locally harvested fuel.Here in western North Carolina our electricity comes mostly from coal strip mined in Virginia and West Virginia through the process known as mountain top removal.  In fact, North Carolina leads the nation in mountain top removal coal use.  Switching from oil to coal for our transportation sector provides a net environmental gain because the electric motor is much more efficient that the internal combustion engine.  But the mining and burning of coal perpetuates the environmentally destructive consequences of burning any fossil fuel namely air pollution, water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.  There’s no way around the fact that coal fired electricity will play a major role in the EV transition, but Brightfield is proving that by incorporating solar power generation from the onset, we can phase in the solar capacity needed to fuel the growing regional fleet of EVs.  Doing so will reduce pressure to build new coal-fired power plants as electricity demand increase to meet EV need while increasing the amount of renewable energy deployed. As far as the revenue generation goes, The solar power generated by Brightfields is bundled and sold on the energy markets as Renewable Energy Credits (REC).  The RECs are purchased by individuals and companies looking to stimulate renewable power generation and/or offset their own non-renewable electricity use.  In North Carolina the RECs are purchased by NC Green Power.  The revenue from the sale of RECs covers Brightfield operations and maintenance costs and provides cash flow to Brightfield.  This is particularly valuable while we wait for the  EVs  the Brightfields will serve to arrive.  With integrated solar power generation, the Brightfield Charging Station is productive from day one every moment the sun is shining. The result is that abundant local sunshine is harvested by the Brightfield’s solar array and put on the grid to power your car.  Local fuel is secure fuel.  When we buy our imported oil refined as gasoline at the pump, only a few cents per gallon stays in the local economy.  The rest leaves immediately to be deposited in far away corporate and foreign-nation bank accounts.  But when we harvest sunshine and send it onto the grid and then draw off the grid to fuel our EVs, more of our fuel dollars stay local where they can serve the local economy. Integrating solar power production and EV charging is environmentally, socially and economically beneficial.   There are few products out there in the world today that enable you to improve the environment, put people to work, keep money on local communities, decrease consumer fuel costs, increase local manufacturing, and inspire us all.  That’s what the solar power generating Brightfield Charging Station does.

BTS Introduces The Brightfield™ Concept to Asheville, NC

BioWheels RTS Brightfield - North South Brightfield Transportation Solutions is proud to have forged public/private partnerships with Asheville City, Buncombe County and UNC Asheville that have resulted in installed publicly accessible Brightfield™ Charging Stations.  These partnerships are possible thanks to the hard work of staff and administrators within each organization who believe in the solar powered EV vision and championed the cause. The result of these collaborative initiatives is the foundation of a region-wide EV charging network—a vital part of a viable EV market.  Our community now has the public/private partnership templates that can be used to grow our EV capacity. Brightfield is using these templates to engage with the Asheville Metro Area to grow the network of chargers, so EV drivers can leave home confident that their charging needs will be met.