Two Vancouver companies are planning on wiring every major Canadian city with a network of charging stations for refueling electric cars by 2012.
Rapid Electric Vehicles (REV), which refits gas-powered vehicles with electric drivetrains, and electrical contractor, Viridian Power, announced Tuesday that their new partnership will enable the electrification of vehicle fleets across Canada.
Viridian will install and maintain California-based Coulomb Technologies Inc.’s chargepoints on behalf of reseller REV.
REV also announced it is in negotiations with municipalities, cities, utilities and commercial companies to launch pilot projects in almost every major city across Canada.
“Making sure there are convenient and easy locations to charge is only half the battle,” said REV CEO Jay Giraud in a statement. “The other half is ensuring they are properly maintained and serviced so that when someone arrives to charge, they are comforted by knowing the charge stations will always work.”
According to REV and Viridian, 1.1% of global vehicle sales are expected to be electric by 2015, with electric vehicle sales rising to more than $400 billion by 2030.
REV, which has converted only a handful of vehicles to date, is largely targeting fleet operators whose vehicles can charge at predictable times – the end of the working day and overnight – and consequently integrate well with utilities’ power management practices.
Giraud told BIV in late June: “If there were 100 or 10,000 vehicles plugged in at a number of fleet utility yards overnight for 16 hours, you have those 16 hours covering some of the biggest [electricity rate] peaks and valleys in any 24-hour period." (See “Power shortage threatens to stall electric vehicle progress” – issue 1078; June 22-28, 2010.)