Electric Cars Get First 6 Stand-Alone Charging Stations In Chicago

The first six official stand alone electric vehicle charging stations for the city of Chicago were completed today according to the projects managing construction company.

Chicago officials plan to install 73 charging stations with 18 more being completed in the next two weeks.

Under the cities contract 350Green LLC will install, own, operate and maintain the electric power stations which will offer “quick-charging” with full vehicle charges occurring in just 30 minutes. The company will also run two 220-volt Level 2 stations which will offer a full charge in three to eight hours.

Including the suburbs that surround Chicago the company will run 280 stations in total.

The announcement also had Nissan announcing that they will begin accepting their first Nissan Leaf orders in the state, the Nissan Leaf if you are unfamiliar with the vehicle it runs solely on electric power.

350Green LLC cut out half of their $8.9 million project costs by using $2 million in federal and state grants alongside various federal tax credits.

Are you willing to wait 30 minutes for a charge? How about three to eight hours? For city drivers the stations should provide the type of quick commutes they need with charging maybe once a week, while commuters might be better off waiting until they get home to charge their vehicles whenever possible.