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 founder, Stan Cross, attended and presented at the final NC Plug-In Electric Vehicle Tackforce planning meeting in Charlotte, NC. Cross has been working on the state-wide initiative for the past year, focusing on infrastructure deployment needs an opportunities. The end result of this effort, supported by the US Department of Energy and led by the NC Department of Commerce and Advanced Energy, will be a state-wide EV readiness master plan.
Effective 3/19/15; Applies to all Brightfield/Greenlots DC Fast Chargers;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®.
Building off of Brightfield® Transportation Solutions’ Phase 1 success brokering public/private partnerships and deploying publicly accessible grid-tied solar EV charging stations, Brightfield Transportation Solutions (BTS) is launching a multi-stage regional EV infrastructure roll-out we call the Solar Driven® Experience. Phase 2: BTS is partnering with the North Carolina Plug-in Electric Vehicle Task Force, NC Clean Energy Technology Center, Advanced Energy, NC Department of Transportation, NovaCharge and Nissan North America to make North Carolina one of the nation’s most innovative and vibrant EV markets. BTS will install 11 DC Fast Chargers—technology able to charge an EV in under 20 minutes—at strategic downtown locations in cities across the state. This will mark one the largest DC Fast Charger roll-outs happening nationally and position the emerging North Carolina EV market for accelerated growth. In 2013, nationwide EV sales increased 241% adding another 47,600 vehicles to America’s roads. Data shows that EV sales are strongest in states where EV infrastructure has been deployed. By bringing DC Fast Charger technology to key North Carolina markets, Brightfield is driving market growth, which in turn will increase demand for Brightfield Charging Stations. Brightfield will charge consumers to plug into our stations to garner revenue while providing a necessary charging service to EV consumers at approximately $2.20 per gallon gasoline equivalent. Phase 3: BTS will partner with investors to deploy our patented solar-integrated Brightfield Charging Stations around and above the DC Fast Chargers. In addition to the DC Fast Charger units, these Brightfield Charging Stations will be equipped with networked Level 2 chargers and 30 kW of solar panels producing enough solar fuel to provide North Carolinians with 180,000 fossil fuel free EV miles annually. In addition to generating solar fuel, Brightfield canopies protect equipment and consumers from the elements, and create an iconic and innovative charging station. Brightfields are grid-tied, so solar power is generated and put on the grid whenever the sun is shining and electricity is dispensed from the grid to vehicles rain or shine, day or night. Brightfields provide consumers, businesses, and communities with the environmental, social and economic benefits of driving on sunshine.These Brightfield Charging Stations will be deployed at high utilization downtown commercial locations in the greater Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston and Asheville Metro Areas to accelerate state-wide EV adoption and take our innovative zero-emission Solar Driven Experience to scale.This Brightfield DC Fast Charge roll-out will support EV sales while bolstering consumer confidence and excitement by deploying the charging infrastructure needed to ensure a safe, secure, zero-emission driving experience.
Asheville Police Department now has a Chevy Volt in their fleet. Brightfield TS installed a charging station at the Asheville Public Works building that is across the street from the police station. One of the goals of this publicly accessible infrastructure project was to create an incentive for both City employees and fleet managers to purchase EVs. Asheville Police Department is the first in the state to go EV and perhaps the first anywhere to be Solar Driven. Brightfield TS is providing free charging to the City for 2 years, so this tax-payer funded cruiser is keeping the peace powered by free and renewable solar fuel!
One of the major challenges facing EV infrastructure deployment is the lack of EVs on the road. Leaders and investors are concerned that EV chargers will be left unused and become a target for people skeptical of EV market viability.
Our Brightfield™ Charging Stations were conceived, in part, to deal with this issue. By integrating solar power production, Brightfields™ are productive the moment they are commissioned by banking solar fuel on the utility grid to meet current and future charging need.
But to our pleasant surprise, our Asheville, NC Brightfields™ are getting visited by EV drivers.
Rupert: “ I was so excited to find the charging stations at Charlotte St. I had to do more research and find the source, so I got to Coxe Ave (BioWheels Cycle store) on Fri. They said I was the first public customer! So grateful! Thank you.
Jesse
“I just wanted to write to say thanks for the work you are doing in the Asheville area to support the rise of EVs and renewable solar energy. In November I finished building my own EV by converting an old BMW 325i. It has a pretty limited range, but gets me back and forth from work every day. Now that there are charging stations down in Asheville I am able to make the trip downtown and back home to Weaverville without worrying about killing my batteries. Over the weekend I plugged in at BioWheels. Usually I plug in at home using the energy supplied by our 5.5KW PV installation. I really love the idea of driving my car around every day with the power from the sun. I know there aren’t a whole lot of EVs on the road now, but keep up the good work because they are coming”.
BTS is providing free fuel at al of our Brightfield™ installations through July 2012. We hope this will help incentivize the purchasing of EVs. According to June 2012 motor vehicle data, 60 EVs have been purchased in the Asheville Metro Area!
AdvantageWest CEO Scott Hamilton addresses the crowd at the Asheville City Public Works Brightfield™ ribbon cutting ceremony.
Evolve Energy Partnerships is a new venture in western North Carolina that seeks to deliver the innovation, finance, policy and workforce tools needed to support the expansion of existing clean energy businesses and the formation of new ventures. Through partnership, they are building on the region’s unique assets to develop a clean energy cluster with lasting regional and global significance. The decision to launch Evolve Energy Partnerships—an initiative led by BioWheels RTS partners Land of Sky and Advantage West—comes from the results of a comprehensive economic analysis conducted by Angelou Economics. The 200 page report consists of many findings pointing towards the viability of a thriving regional clean energy cluster including the following:
Employment and establishment growth patterns confirm findings in interviews and focus groups of likely locations for emerging clean energy clusters. Growth in employment and number of establishments in industries relating to clean energy within Western North Carolina has outpaced industry growth in the U.S. as a whole by 4.3% and 1.3% respectively. Despite the harsh recessionary conditions affecting North Carolina and the United States as a whole, the WNC region saw growth in industries that relate to or may support clean energy.
In addition, clean energy sector growth in western NC between 2005-2009 was 15.8% compared to 14.5% nationally. Perhaps most immediately relevant to the region, job growth in the clean energy related sector was 4.9% compared to 7.9% net regional job loss over the same years. Brightfield TS is proud to be an Evolve Energy Partnerships partner and a member of the Clean Tech Executive Committee. We look forward to working together to realize the goal of a vibrant clean energy economy in Western NC.
“We can break our dependence on oil…and become the first country to have one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. The future is ours to win,” President Obama said in his January 2011 State of the Union address.
Some critics believe that this goal is overly ambitious, citing the fact that it took 10 years for Hybrid vehicles to reach the 3% market share, which is the same share the Obama Administration is hoping electric vehicles will reach in 4 years.
But what differentiates this ambitious electric vehicle goal from Hybrids or other alternative-fueled vehicles is that the government is investing significant resources in it. According to a US Department of Energy report titled The Recovery Act: Transforming America’s Transportation Sector, released July , 2010:
As part of the Department of Energy’s $12 billion investment in advanced vehicle technologies,
the Department is investing more than $5 billion to electrify America’s transportation sector.
These investments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and DOE’s Advanced
Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) Loan Program are supporting the development,
manufacturing, and deployment of the batteries, components, vehicles, and chargers necessary to
put millions of electric vehicles on America’s roads.
The goal of these investments is to support the infrastructure that will support electric vehicle ownership:
increase number of nation-wide electric vehicle charging stations from 500 today to 20,500 by 2012
decrease the cost of 100 mile range batteries 70% from $33,000 today to $10,000 in 2015;
decrease the weight of batteries 33% from 333kg to 222kg.
These infrastructural gains will help pave the way for the 1,000,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2015. Additionally, all of the major car manufactures are releasing various types of electric vehicles as quickly as they can roll them off the assembly lines: 20,000 Nissan Leaf all-electric vehicles are already on order nation-wide.
In 1999, the electric vehicle industry group The Electrification Coalition published an in-depth study titled The Electrification Roadmap. Their findings forecast there will be 14 million electric vehicles on the road by 2020 and that 75% of all light-duty vehicle miles traveled by 2040 will be in electric vehicles: even more aggressive assumptions than the Obama administration.
Regardless of whether or not you agree that the goals set by organizations like The Electrification Coalition or the Obama administration, its hard to argue with the facts that transitioning to electric vehicles is creating jobs, spurring investment and well underway.
BioWheels RTS principal, Stan Cross, recently participated on a Clean Technology panel at the Governor’s 2011 NC Entrepreneurial Summit in Durham, NC. Cross joined panelists from the biomass, energy efficiency, water system technology and carbon capture sectors addressing the audience of statewide entrepreneurs.
“The event was geared at entrepreneurial efforts in general,” Cross said. “My panel’s role was to highlight the growing and diverse clean technology sector. In doing so, we showcased efforts across the state that are proving to be profitable and job creating while also solving many fundamental environmental problems around energy.”
North Carolina is supporting the clean technology sector as study after study confirms that this is the sector where growth is happening and where the state is poised to lead the country.
“What was most exciting was the overwhelming number of participants who see business-as usual approaches to entrepreneurship as dead,” Cross said. “They see business plans that do not address the triple bottom line with integrity as out of step with the needs and desires of consumers. I left feeling energized that BioWheels RTS is headed down the right road and, despite our start-up status, are poised to help lead the way.
Information about the NC Entrepreneurial Summit can be found at www.ncentresummit.org
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®.
Phase 2: BTS is partnering with the North Carolina Plug-in Electric Vehicle Task Force, NC Clean Energy Technology Center, Advanced Energy, NC Department of Transportation, NovaCharge and Nissan North America to make North Carolina one of the nation’s most innovative and vibrant EV markets. BTS will install 11 DC Fast Chargers—technology able to charge an EV in under 20 minutes—at strategic downtown locations in cities across the state. This will mark one the largest DC Fast Charger roll-outs happening nationally and position the emerging North Carolina EV market for accelerated growth. In 2013, nationwide EV sales increased 241% adding another 47,600 vehicles to America’s roads. Data shows that EV sales are strongest in states where EV infrastructure has been deployed. By bringing DC Fast Charger technology to key North Carolina markets, Brightfield is driving market growth, which in turn will increase demand for Brightfield Charging Stations. Brightfield will charge consumers to plug into our stations to garner revenue while providing a necessary charging service to EV consumers at approximately $2.20 per gallon gasoline equivalent.
Phase 3: BTS will partner with investors to deploy our patented solar-integrated Brightfield Charging Stations around and above the DC Fast Chargers. In addition to the DC Fast Charger units, these Brightfield Charging Stations will be equipped with networked Level 2 chargers and 30 kW of solar panels producing enough solar fuel to provide North Carolinians with 180,000 fossil fuel free EV miles annually. In addition to generating solar fuel, Brightfield canopies protect equipment and consumers from the elements, and create an iconic and innovative charging station. Brightfields are grid-tied, so solar power is generated and put on the grid whenever the sun is shining and electricity is dispensed from the grid to vehicles rain or shine, day or night. Brightfields provide consumers, businesses, and communities with the environmental, social and economic benefits of driving on sunshine.
These Brightfield Charging Stations will be deployed at high utilization downtown commercial locations in the greater Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston and Asheville Metro Areas to accelerate state-wide EV adoption and take our innovative zero-emission Solar Driven Experience to scale.
This Brightfield DC Fast Charge roll-out will support EV sales while bolstering consumer confidence and excitement by deploying the charging infrastructure needed to ensure a safe, secure, zero-emission driving experience.
Asheville Police Department now has a Chevy Volt in their fleet. Brightfield TS installed a charging station at the Asheville Public Works building that is across the street from the police station. One of the goals of this publicly accessible infrastructure project was to create an incentive for both City employees and fleet managers to purchase EVs. Asheville Police Department is the first in the state to go EV and perhaps the first anywhere to be Solar Driven. Brightfield TS is providing free charging to the City for 2 years, so this tax-payer funded cruiser is keeping the peace powered by free and renewable solar fuel!
“We can break our dependence on oil…and become the first country to have one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. The future is ours to win,” President Obama said in his January 2011 State of the Union address.
Some critics believe that this goal is overly ambitious, citing the fact that it took 10 years for Hybrid vehicles to reach the 3% market share, which is the same share the Obama Administration is hoping electric vehicles will reach in 4 years.
But what differentiates this ambitious electric vehicle goal from Hybrids or other alternative-fueled vehicles is that the government is investing significant resources in it. According to a US Department of Energy report titled The Recovery Act: Transforming America’s Transportation Sector, released July , 2010:
