Simon Malls in Chicago Suburbs Join E-V Network

 
The Nationwide Network of Electric Vehicle Recharge Stations is Growing - Across the United States, thousands of electric vehicle recharge stations are going up in public places as well as shopping mall parking lots as more and more consumers make the switch from gasoline to hybrid and electric. More than one million electric vehicles will be on the road by 2015, with estimates as high as 27 to 31 million by 2020, according to automakers.

"An electric vehicle is just right for 90 percent of all drivers, who rarely travel more than 150 miles per day from their homes," said S. Monte Kase, head designer, builder and racer of EV Concepts.

Simon Property Group, the largest retail real estate property company in the United States has installed a dozen recharge stations at malls in Florida to California. The newest recharge stations are going up at nine Simon malls in the Chicago suburbs. 

The stations are self-service and easy to operate, according to Simon Property Group spokesman Les Morris. Charging will be free for an introductory time period, and then a nominal fee will be assessed, he said. The company’s goal is to quell “range anxiety” that electric car owners may feel about traveling to the outlet mall to shop.

A typical charging station costs between $5,000 and $15,000. U.S. Department of Energy grant money is subsidizing the Simon Mall installations, as well as thousands of recharge stations being installed by municipalities across the nation.

Los Angeles-based company 350Green, which builds and operates the stations, has more than 1,100 stations under contract. “It’s coming — the demand is there,” said David Goodridge, vice president of sales for 350Green. “Our role is to act as a corridor for the technology.”

The Electric Drive Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative

“I don’t want to have to import a hybrid car. I want to build a hybrid car here.” – President Obama said Aug. 5th 2009, when he announced the $2.4 billion Electric Drive Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that includes 48 grants administered by the US Department of Energy (DOE).

The biggest individual grant, at $299 million, went to Johnson Controls, a Holland, Mich., firm that has struck a deal with Ford to provide batteries for future vehicles. The second biggest grant, at $249 million, went to startup A123 Systems, a Romulus, Mich., company with links to Chrysler.
It’s significant for A123Systems since the program’s goal of getting technology into large-scale production within 2-3 years and the requirement for awardees to share costs tends to tilt the scales away from younger ventures. A123 has requested as much as $438 million but the $249 million grant could help bring the GE Energy Financial Services’ backed company closer to its long-planned IPO.
The Big Three automakers will also receive the grants. GM is receiving 3 grants totaling $241.4 million, Ford will get 2 grants totaling $92.7 million and Chrysler will get 1 grant of $70 million.

You can view a list at WSJ here or the full original DOE list here.

Related:

350Green & Car Charging Group E-V Stations at Simon Malls

Sources:

Feds Give $2.4B to 48 Auto Battery and Electric Drive Projects

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Based in Florida, Elite-evs are faster than blue lightning but they can also be tamed to top speeds under 50 mph for resort community travel needs.

Ideal for town and retirement community travel
 see our Electric City Car Collection at e-cars.cc.

The future is here and it's Electric!

E-V Recharge Stations at Florida & California Malls

Customers Can Charge EVs While Shopping and Dining - Simon Property Group, Inc is betting the future will be "electric" by installing electric vehicle charging stations at the biggest malls across the country. The first charging station went up in March 2011 at Simon's Florida Mall in Orlando, followed by another at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California.

That's good news for Tesla Motors in California and Elite-EVS by EV Concepts of Orlando based in Central Florida and South Carolina.

Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, Simon's (NYSE:SPG) is an S&P 500 company and the largest real estate company in the United States. The Company currently owns or has an interest in 392 properties comprising 263 million square feet of gross leasable area in North America, Europe and Asia.

Long considered a leader among developers in integrating energy conservation strategies into mall operations, the recharging stations at Simon malls are the first recharge stations to be installed in retail shopping center parking lots. One 'Level 2' charger, which has the capability to "top off" or partially charge a customer's electric vehicle in a 60 to 120 minute time frame, is now operational near the food court entrance at Florida Mall.

A dual unit, with two 'Level 2' chargers, was installed in the parking deck between Macy's and Bloomingdale's at Stanford Shopping Center.

These EV charging stations will be self-service and easy to operate. Shoppers will be able to just "pull up and plug in" and leave their vehicles at the charging station while they are enjoying time at the mall. Charging will be free during an introductory time period and then a nominal fee will be assessed.

Production numbers from EV automakers project approximately a million EVs on U.S. roads by 2015, and possibly 27 million (or 10 percent of all vehicles in the U.S.) by 2020.

"We believe that a well-developed EV charging infrastructure is going to be key to the success of EVs," said George Caraghiaur, Simon Property Group's senior vice president of energy and procurement. "Meeting the needs of the first-to-market drivers of electric vehicles in the communities we serve is yet another example of our commitment to sustainability."

Simon is working with two companies during this initial rollout. Car Charging, Inc. (OTCBB: CCGI), installed the unit at Florida Mall and 350Green will install the charging units at Stanford Shopping Center. Both companies are dedicated to expanding the EV charging station infrastructure nationally.
Michael D. Farkas, CEO of Car Charging Group, Inc., said "Our collaboration with Simon Property Group is a prime example of our national growth strategy. By partnering with premier national property management companies for installations, we are able to rapidly deploy a nationwide roll out of a robust network of convenient charging stations. We are happy to have brought this amenity to customers at Florida Mall and look forward to bringing it to additional Simon Property Group locations across the nation."

"We are thrilled to be working with Simon on this project to place the first in what will be a larger network of our charging stations in the Bay Area," said Mariana Gerzanych, 350Green's founder and CEO. "The goal is to make EV charging convenient and accessible to anyone who owns an EV - regardless of whether or not they have a charging station at their home or office."

About Car Charging Group, Inc.
Car Charging Group, Inc. is an owner and provider of EV charging stations with the mission to build-out a nationwide infrastructure, enabling EV and PHEV owners to charge their Electric Cars anytime, anywhere. As part of its strategy, the Company owns, provides, installs and maintains electric car charging stations and works with its landowner partners to identify appropriate locations for its charging stations. The Company provides convenient, safe and affordable charging stations away from home in customer-friendly public locations, including municipalities, shopping malls, parking garages, multi-family residential and commercial properties. Car Charging Group, Inc. is based in Miami, Florida. The Company's website can be viewed at www.CarCharging.com.

About 350Green
350Green is a project developer that designs, builds and operates scalable networks of plug-in electric vehicle (EV) charging stations across the US. The company distributes its stations by partnering with retail hosts at select, high-traffic shopping centers and other places near where EV drivers live and work, to create an expansive and convenient network of EV charging locations. Current projects totaling several hundred chargers are underway in Chicago, the state of Pennsylvania, and the San Francisco Bay area. More information on 350Green and its projects can be found at its website: http://www.350green.com

SOURCE: Simon Property Group, Inc.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Based in Florida, Elite-evs are faster than blue lightning but they can also be tamed to top speeds under 50 mph for resort community travel needs.

Ideal for town and retirement community travel
 see our Electric City Car Collection at e-cars.cc.

The future is here and it's Electric!

Florida Encourages Electric Vehicle Tourism Travel

Here in Central Florida there are 53 recharging stations, including 2 in downtown Orlando and one installed by Simon Properties at Florida Mall.

The infrastructure in Florida is going to include 500 charging stations by next year, although there are currently only 150 electric vehicles registered statewide. Florida wants to encourage electric for tourism travel.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Based in Florida, Elite-evs are faster than blue lightning but they can also be tamed to top speeds under 50 mph for resort community travel needs.

Ideal for town and retirement community travel
 see our Electric City Car Collection at e-cars.cc.

The future is here and it's Electric!