PowerSwitch

Tucson will be among the first markets to get Nissan's new electric vehicle and charging stations under a nearly $100 million federal grant awarded to a Scottsdale company.
ETec, which stands for Electric Transportation Engineering Corp. and is a subsidiary of Ecotality Inc., was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy for a grant of up to $99.8 million to help roll out electric cars, and the charging equipment and stations to make them run.

The grant is part of a larger, $2.4 billion program to build up the nation's electric-car industry, announced by President Obama on Wednesday.
The project eTec is undertaking is expected to cost a total of $199.6 million; program participants are expected to match the federal grant money for a 50-50 public-private investment, Ecotality said.
ETec has teamed up with Nissan North America to roll out its Leaf electric vehicle and the charging stations to support the car.
The project will install electric-vehicle charging equipment and introduce up to 1,000 Nissan Leafs in strategic markets in five states, including Tucson and Phoenix in Arizona.
After a planning phase, eTec plans to start rolling out charging equipment in Leaf owners' garages and in public places in Tucson and other markets next summer, ahead of the Leaf's market debut in the fall, said Colin Read, vice president of market development for Ecotality.
"We're looking to put 1,000 electric vehicles in Phoenix and Tucson as part of the largest rollout of electric vehicles and infrastructure in U.S. history," Read said.
Don Karner, president of eTec, said in prepared remarks that lessons learned from the rollout of the first 5,000 electric cars "enable the streamlined deployment of the next 5 million electric vehicles."
The project participants will collect and analyze data on vehicle use in different topographic and climatic conditions, evaluate charge equipment, and conduct trials of various pay systems for commercial and public chargers, Ecotality said.
Besides Tucson and Phoenix, the cars and infrastructure will be rolled out in San Diego; Portland, Salem, Corvallis and Eugene, Ore.; Seattle; and Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tenn.
Each market will be allocated 1,000 Nissan Leafs, and owners will get home charging systems under the program, Read said. Nissan has not disclosed the price of the Leaf but has said it will be "designed for affordability."
Leaf owners will be required to have Internet connections to transmit usage data and get program information, but they will be able to keep the chargers when the program ends.
After launching in the selected markets next year, U.S. production will begin in 2012 at Nissan's manufacturing facility in Smyrna, Tenn.
To support the Nissan electric car, the eTec will install about 12,500 standard 220-volt charging systems and 250 fast-charge systems in the initial markets.
The standard systems will include 5,000 chargers installed in owners' homes (1,000 in each market); 6,000 chargers in commercial locations; and 2,000 in public locations.
The fast chargers will be installed in corridors such as Interstate 10 to help drivers bridge distances beyond their battery range. Nissan says its Leaf will have a range of about 100 miles per charge and will take a fast charge in less than 30 minutes.
Ecotality, which has been making charging systems for industrial equipment such as forklifts, said its fast chargers can give an electric car a useful charge in about 15 minutes.
In April, Ecotality announced plans to put "fast-charge" stations along Interstate 10 between Tucson and Phoenix. The company is working with the Pima Association of Governments and the Maricopa Association of Governments on the program.