Electric, diesel or hybrid car? Cost and CO2 calculator helps consumers choose

Anyone Interested in Comparing today's green and eco friendly automobile choices try out the Electric Car Calculator at the below link, Easy to use with many driving scenarios, tailor to your needs, Co2 Reduction stats, Gasoline Prices, useful information to help you find the car that best fits your needs. Scotty Electric, diesel or hybrid car? Cost and CO2 calculator helps consumers choose
	Nov 15, 2010	Los Angeles Times
	By Susan Carpenter Nov. 15, 2010 (at http://www.befrugal.com/tools/electric-car-calculator/)(McClatchy-Tribune News Service delivered by Newstex) -- As the Environmental Protection Agency struggles with how to accurately label passenger vehicles for fuel economy and greenhouse-gas emissions, a new online cost and CO2 emissions calculator has launched to help fill the void."Electrics, hybrids, plug-ins, all these alternative powertrain cars are a hot topic these days, but there's not a good way to look at the bottom line of what it costs to own one of these," said Jon Lal, founder of BeFrugal.com, a frugal-living website that offers tools to help consumers save money, including its new calculator. The calculator (at http://www.befrugal.com/tools/electric-car-calculator/) allows consumers to first determine which type of alternative-drivetrain vehicle best suits their driving needs based on what state they live in, how many city and highway miles they drive, how many road trips they take each year (and at what distance) and fuel costs in their state, whether it be electricity, gas or diesel.Using its database of 64 vehicles (four electric, eight diesel, 13 hybrid and 39 popular gas-powered cars) the calculator then allows users to make side-by-side comparisons using EPA miles-per-gallon data, manufacturers' suggested retail prices and other factors.Electric car operating costs are translated into an mpg equivalent, or MPGe, using individual states' electricity costs as calculated by the U.S. Department of Energy. Electric cars' upstream carbon dioxide emissions are also calculated using DOE data on the electricity source for each state.According to BeFrugal.com, Washington, Idaho, Kentucky, West Virginia and Arkansas are the states with the lowest electricity rates, making electric cars most economical on a cost-per-mile basis. Vermont, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and New Hampshire are the best states in terms of electric cars' lowest upstream CO2 emissions per kilowatt-hour.The top two states for electric cars' lowest operating costs and greenhouse-gas emissions: Idaho and Washington.___

 



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Electric Cars and Charging Stations

Here's your chance to tell them where you would like a Charging Station: Click Here to suggest public locations for electric vehicles The following article is about charging stations for your car. In prior posting I covered the basics of what you will need and can be viewed at:

1. http://stlouisrenewableenergy.blogspot.com/2010/02/electric-cars-proper-set-up.html. email:Scott's Contracting will custom build or renovate your garage for the needed Electric Hook-Ups for your Electric Car

Electric Car Charging Stations Coming To Big Cities in the United States

By Seth Leitman

Tags: electric cars, electric vehicles, EV charging infrastructure, charging stations, New York, Coulomb Technologies

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the Transportation Electrification Program has awarded $400 million to 18 projects. As of March 10, small businesses have received two of the 18 grants (11% of total) amounting to $110 million (28% of total).

As part of that program, Coulomb Technologies will be delivering free home and public ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations for electric vehicles throughout the United States.

The ChargePoint America program will provide, according to The New York Times, 4,600 charging stations to program participants in nine regions in the United States. They are:

1. Austin, Texas
2. Detroit
3. Los Angeles
4. New York
5. Orlando, Fla.
6. Sacramento, Calif.
7. San Jose/San Francisco Bay Area
8. Redmond, Wash.
9. Washington D.C.

This is a strategic partnership with three leading automobile brands including, Ford, Chevrolet and Smart USA. Coulomb currently has the largest established base of networked charging stations worldwide, with more than 700 units shipped to more than 130 customers in 2009.

Installation of the ChargePoint charging stations for electric vehicles will begin immediately.

The $37 million ChargePoint America program is made possible by a $15 million grant funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the Transportation Electrification Initiative administered by the Department of Energy. Currently, though, the remaining $22 million in installation costs has yet to be funded. Therefore, if I were them, don't spend all the money on the chargers.

ChargePoint charging stations are available now for installation in all nine designated regional metropolitan areas of the United States.

More than 1,000 new public charging stations will be installed by December 2010, adding to the existing ChargePoint Network.

The remaining stations will be installed by September 2011.

In support of the ChargePoint America program, three automakers have committed to deliver electric vehicles in designated U.S. regions. The Chevrolet Volt, the Ford Transit Connect Electric and Ford Focus Electric through the "Ford Blue Oval ChargePoint Program," and the Smart ForTwo electric drive will be introduced along with this program.

"The Obama Administration has set significant and considerable goals for the widespread adoption of electric vehicles in the coming years," said Richard Lowenthal, CEO of Coulomb Technologies. "This grant will bring thousands of networked charging stations to nine US regions that are slated to receive the first electric vehicles from our automobile partners. These charging stations will build upon our already growing and established network of infrastructure and will accelerate the deployment of public and private charging infrastructure which will in turn encourage consumers to buy electric vehicles. Our Department of Energy grant, also known as the stimulus bill, was funded to provide jobs for Americans. Our products are built and installed with American labor. Every time we ship a ChargePoint charging station, three Americans go to work for a day."

Visit the ChargePoint America web site and sign up by completing the application form.

Individuals interested in purchasing an EV and want their own charger, sign up at www.chargepointamerica.com to receive more information.

Here seems to be the main problem with the entire program. So far, the program is only funded for about $15 million. That's the cost of the charging stations alone. Then you have to include the money for the charging locations and the electricians, the project management of it at a local level is interesting.

I plan to give them suggestions of where to charge. Here is where you can tell ChargePoint America to suggest public locations for electric vehicles.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, ChargePoint Website