Elecric vehicle owners can drive without fear of their batteries dying with AAA's new portable charging stations. 07/12/2011
Car owners who have taken the plunge and invested in electric-only cars, such as the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla Roadster, may not have to worry about running out of juice on the road. AAA recently announced that it will begin equipping its roadside service vehicles with portable charging stations for stranded electric vehicles by August, according to Popular Science.
"We know electric vehicles are coming, and we've got to be ready for them," Christie Hyde, a spokesperson from AAA told Bloomberg.com.
The Nissan Leaf can drive an average of 100 miles on a full battery, and its 24-kilowatt battery takes 4 to 8 hours to recharge at a charging station. The news source reports that docking electric cars to a portable charging unit for a shorter period of time can give these new cars enough power to drive to a station. AAA will be testing options from multiple companies, such as General Electric, that are developing mobile charging technology.
Bloomberg.com reports that Tesla's electric innovation, the Roadster, can get up to 200 miles per charge. The upstart car company has been producing its emission-free vehicle for sale to the public since 2008, and in 2011, they released the Roadster 2.5, which can be upgraded to include a fast-charge pack that only takes 3.5 hours to fully charge, Left Lane News reports.
AAA will start out on a small-scale, introducing at least six mobile units to only a handful of states, but as more electric options become available and more people begin buying new cars that do not need gasoline to operate, the service will most likely follow suit.