Brightfield is on the move.

June 30, 2016 by Stan

Brightfield secures Series Seed Round investment! See full article here.

From Asheville Citizen Times 6/22/16

Asheville electric car charging business going regional

Asheville doesn’t have an Uber or an Airbnb, but local business groups are working hard to create a similar start-up that can go global.

Brightfield Transportation Solutions, a company that builds and installs solar chargers for electric vehicles, is the latest contender for Asheville’s top company. It completed a successful round of seed funding, which included an investment from Asheville Angels last week.

The money will allow the company to expand out of North Carolina and into the Southeastern region, stationing solar-powered electric car charging stations throughout the sunny, Southern climes.

Brightfield featured in Business NC Magazine

January 19, 2016 by Stan

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. “The mainstream will comfortably buy EVs once they know high-speed charging stations are everywhere. Right now they’re not,” says Talley, co-owner of Asheville’s Green Sage Café…

*NOTE: There is an error in this article- the DC Fast Chargers BTS has installed cost $30,000+ for the hardware, not $9,000.

Change to Asheville Brightfield Fast Chargers

November 24, 2015 by Stan

Brightfield’s Asheville DC Fast Charger Pricing and Output Update

Dear EV Community,

We had to temporarily reduce the output from 50kW to 25kW at our DC Fast Chargers at the Biltmore Avenue Parking Deck and at Asheville City Public Works. We did so because under certain circumstances when the units were operating at their full capacity they triggered demand charges from the utility. The demand charges cause increased utility expenses for Brightfield that we cannot absorb nor fairly pass on to consumers. We are working with Duke Energy to find a solution that will enable us to return the machines to 50kW. For the short-term, the chargers will charge up the average EV in under 1 hour. Once back up to 50kW they will once again deliver a full charge in under 30 min (except for Tesla’s that have big batteries and take longer).

While output is reduced, so is pricing. We have adjusted the rate to $8.00 per hour prorated by the minute. If you have any questions, please contact us via our website at brightfieldts.com. Thank you for your understanding.

Appalachian State University Brightfield Goes Live!

July 24, 2015 by Stan

The campus of Appalachian State University in Boone, NC is the second UNC campus to host a Brightfield Charging Station. Unveiled at the fourth annual Appalachian Energy Summit, this Brightfield Charging Station integrates a 5.4 killowatt solar array with 4 Level 2 GE WattStation chargers. The grid-tied array will generate over 30,000 vehicle miles of solar fuel annually, and the chargers can charge up to 4 EVs at one time. ASU purchased the station with funds from the student-led Renewable Energy Initiative. The chargers are available for ASU fleet, staff/faculty/student, and community use.

This Brightfield Charging Station makes ASU a Solar Driven® campus, further demonstrating the institutions commitment to sustainability innovation and leadership.

Appalachian State University Brightfield is Going Up!

June 24, 2015 by Stan

This week we began erecting ASU’s first Brightfield Charging Station! The station will be equipped with a 5kW solar array capable of producing 30,000 vehicle miles of solar fuel, and 2 dual cord GE WattStation chargers able to charge up to 4 EVs at a time. This project is in partnership with Renewable Design Associates, ASU Facilities Staff, ASU Sustainability Office, and the student-led ASU Renewable Energy Initiative. Now ASU is Solar Driven. Go Mountaineers!

Brightfield® Installs 11 DC Fast Chargers across North Carolina

June 3, 2015 by Stan

Brightfield is installing 11 DC Fast Chargers across NC in Partnership with Nissan, NC Department of Transportation and the Clean Fuel Advanced Technology Project.

A network of Brightfield owned DC Fast Chargers now exists in NC! Brightfield successfully installed units in Waynesville, Asheville, Greensboro, Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, Durham, Salisbury, Dallas, Wadesboro and Mathews. These stations can charge any fast-charge equipped EV up in under 30 minutes—cutting edge technology spurring EV market growth.

These 11 DC Fast Charging stations would not be possible without the hard work and support of our partner City’s leadership and staff who all recognized the benefits of bringing this DC Fast Charge technology to their communities and helped to make it happen. We also thank Nissan and the Clean Fuel Advanced Technology Project for funding support. These stations are examples of the power of public private partnerships: together we lay the groundwork for a viable and desirable EV future.

Brightfield is building a network of charging stations and deploying the solar capacity needed so North Carolinians can drive an EV from the mountains to the sea, and do it driving on sunshine. We believe that the electric vehicle gives America the opportunity to move beyond petroleum, and turn to renewable energy to help power our nation’s fleet. Reducing our dependency on petroleum an increasing our use of renewable energy will increase national security, create quality jobs, reduce the cost of transportation and enable communities to retain their transportation fuel dollars that today are siphoned away, often overseas.

Hillsborough/Orange County, NC DCFC Ribbon Cutting

Brightfield® presents at Kauffman Foundation’s 1 Million Cups

June 3, 2015 by Stan

1 million cups logo Brightfield’s Co-Founder, Stan Cross, presented to a packed house at RISC Networks in downtown Asheville as part of the 1 Million Cups—a free, weekly national program designed to educate, engage, and connect entrepreneurs. Developed by the Kauffman Foundation, 1MC is based on the notion that entrepreneurs discover solutions and network over a million cups of coffee.

Cross shared Brightfield’s Solar Driven story and business model that combines a growing company-owned network of EV charging stations across NC with an innovative line of solar-integrated Brightfields to meet corporate EV charging station needs. Cross demonstrated how Brightfield is on a fast growth trajectory, the success of which will move America from dependency on oil to diving on sunshine.

Brightfield® Co-Founder, Stan Cross, Writes Feature Article for WNC Green Building Guide

June 3, 2015 by Stan

Here is an excerpt from the article written for the WNC Green Building Guide

We’re living in a time when concerns about energy security, climate change and global economic stability occupy our national discourse. We argue about where to drill, how to mine, how to fix the economy, what to do about a warming climate. Meanwhile, we realize the perils and costs of fossil-fuel extraction abroad and at home. We hold our breath as tar sands and hydraulic-fracturing exploration run rampant. We quietly wonder if all this wacky weather is the new normal. Perhaps we are beginning to perceive the complex interconnections that bind humanity’s fate with the health and vitality of earth’s ecological systems…

Read the full article here

Brightfield® Recognized as EV Market Development Community Champion

April 1, 2015 by Stan

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.

Brightfiled is honored by this Community Champion recognition. Since 2010 both Cross and Brightfield co-founder Mathew Johnson have helped lead the development of the Asheville Metro Area EV Readiness Plan participating in numerous round table discussions, and serving on leadership committees including Clean Cities, Clean Vehicles, regional EV Committee, and EvolveEnergy Partnership. Brightfield will continue to assist the region and North Carolina get ready for the emerging and exciting EV market.

Asheville Public Works Ribbon Cutting- Scott Hamilton

AdvantageWest CEO Scott Hamilton addresses the crowd at the Asheville City Public Works Brightfield™ ribbon cutting ceremony.

The Solar Driven® Experience

June 15, 2014 by Stan

Brightfield has a vision: a multi-million dollar regional EV infrastructure roll-out we call the Solar Driven® Experience. During the first phase of this project, BTS will work with EV manufacturers to secure funding to make the Asheville region the nation’s first EV travel destination—3 million visitors to our Blue Ridge Mountain home will have the opportunity to rent an EV and drive on sunshine.

This phase will take approximately 2 years to install 28 Brightfield® Charging Stations equipped with a total of 162 EV chargers and 140kW of solar fuel capacity, enough to provide 840,000 EV miles traveled.

These Brightfield® Charging Stations will be deployed at travel destinations, hotels and downtown commercial districts. This project will provide the auto industry with unprecedented EV marketing, consumer test drive and market research opportunities.

By 2016, it is forecast that over 20,000 EVs will be owned by consumers in Asheville’s primary tourism feeder markets. Given that the consumer demographic and psychographic that the auto industry is targeting for early EV adoption match the demographic and psychographic targeted by the Asheville area tourism industry, Brightfield TS will initiate the second phase of the Solar Driven® Experience: install 12 DC Fast Charge Brightfields® at strategic locations between the feeder markets and Asheville, and install 500 kilowatts of new solar capacity. Completion of this phase will enable consumers to take their new EV on vacation to a destination equipped to provide them with a secure and exciting automobile adventure, and will position Brightfield TS to replicate the Solar Driven® Experience across North Carolina, the country’s 6^th most visited state.

The Solar Driven® Experience follows efforts nationwide to create a truly vibrant EV market opportunities. Brightfield TS is bringing together the Asheville region’s economic engine, tourism, with clean tech cluster development efforts, regional municipalities, national parks, hotels, travel destinations, and rental car companies to approach auto manufactures and grant makers for EV infrastructure funding. Brightfield TS is setting the stage for a consumer EV experience that will propel the EV market forward and prove beyond doubt that America can drive on sunshine.

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

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