A network of public charging stations designed to make driving an electric vehicle (EV) more convenient is being partially funded by American Honda and Ford Motor Co. "These public charging stations help extend the driving range of EVs, making EVs even more attractive and convenient to current and potential users," says John Wallace, director of Alternative Fuel Vehicles for Ford Motor Co.
Ford and Honda have designed their EVs to work with this shared or common conductive charging technology and are the first original equipment manufacturers to share the same standard for publicly available vehicles.
Honda produces the EV Plus, and Ford produces a Ranger EV. Both are available in California, which is leading the nation in pushing for EV use.
The two companies are providing matching funds to assist California businesses that want to provide EV charging stations. Nine Hilton hotels, three Costco wholesale membership warehouses, the City Walk, the Hyatt Regency La Jolla, and Scripps Memorial of La Jolla Medical Center have installed public charging stations as a result of the program. Additional sites will be added to the network over the next two months, according to Ford and Honda.
Ford and Honda are encouraging other EV manufacturers to cooperate on charging standards and public charging stations to serve the widest range of EVs possible.
