Samantha Quick has always loathed gasoline.
She made her husband Dave fill up the car when it needed fuel. They powered their 1981 Mercedes with bio-diesel. They were proud owners of a Toyota Prius. But even that wasn’t enough.
When Quick learned about the Nissan Leaf – one of two brands in the next generation of electric cars – she immediately began her quest to own one. Her diligence paid off when she received the revolutionary vehicle on Jan. 24.
“I’d just been searching for a long time to find a car that didn’t use any petroleum products,” said the Bellevue resident and employee of software company Egencia.
Quick also became a part of a pilot project that culminated with her receiving the first home charging unit in Bellevue.
Quick was part of the EV Project run by ECOtality, which seeks to install 900 residential units and 1,200 commercial stations in the Puget Sound region by the end of the year.
The project began in 2009 with a $100 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy as a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Additional grants and matches from private sponsors expanded the project to $230 million. As this project progressed, local leaders immediately took notice with the intention of being on the fore front.
“We knew the cars were coming, so we had to get there, and 18 months later, here we are,” said Ben Farrow, program manager of emerging technologies at Puget Sound Energy.
Quick displayed the new Blink charger installed in her garage at a small ceremony Monday morning. The station features an interactive touch screen display that can relay statistics about usage and fuel milage to the car owner. The home units take about eight hours to charge, and each charge is good for approximately 100 miles (12-15 miles per hour of charging). The units feature technological advances that allow users to be updated about the car’s progress. Text messages to cell phones will tell owners when the vehicle is fully charged, or when someone forgot to plug it in. A Nissan Leaf smartphone application allows owners to see how many miles a charge will get them and locate nearby charging stations. The plan is to place chargers in commercial areas throughout the region, not only for nearby residents, but for people to fill up along the way.
Stronger commercial DC chargers, 22 of which are planned to be built throughout the region, allow owners to park for 15-20 minutes and fill up quickly. Dan O’Shea, sales manager for ECOtality, said exact cost for use of the public chargers remains unknown, but he put a ballpark estimate of between $1.25 to $2.50 per session.
If owners can afford the cutting-edge cars, they could achieve savings through removal of gas costs and relatively low refueling costs.
The Nissan Leaf retails at $33,720 according to its website, with the possibility of tax cuts for electric vehicles bringing it closer to $25,000. It’s primary competitor, the Chevy Volt, which uses gasoline to extend the battery’s range, retails at $40,280, with price dropping to around $32,780 from federal tax savings.
Owners of these vehicles who participate in the EV Project receive the charging units, valued at $2,050 by O’Shea, for free. Quick said the additional charge to her electricity equates to about one-third the cost of filling the tank.
Bellevue has traditionally sought to be a part of these electric vehicle advances, having already installed four charging stations at City Hall, with an additional 10 to come. Bellevue Mayor Don Davidson said in a small speech that he was proud to be a part of the project. The advances made have gone far beyond what he thought possible.
“I never thought in my life-time I’d be plugging cars in rather than putting in fuel tanks,” he said.
