California Energy Commission Awards eTec $8M in Support of Transportation Electrification Project

California Energy Commission Awards eTec $8M in Support of Transportation Electrification Project; Almost $7M to Other Plug-in Infrastructure and Vehicle Projects
31 August 2009

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has awarded Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec), a subsidiary of ECOtality, an estimated $8 million to support the deployment of charge infrastructure and electric vehicles (EVs) in the San Diego region that is part of eTec’s project awarded $99.8 million in Recovery Act funds from the Department of Energy. (Earlier post.)

As eTec’s proposed project to the US Department of Energy is anticipated to deploy up to 2,550 charging stations in the San Diego area, the additional funding from the California Energy Commission will allow for a substantial increase in the amount of charge infrastructure deployed in the region, according to Don Karner, president, eTec.

In eTec’s proposed project to the US Department of Energy, eTec is partnering with Nissan North America to deploy up to 5,000 Nissan LEAF EVs and approximately 12,750 charging stations throughout five states: Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington.

The eTec award was part of a larger CEC set of awards made in support of Recovery Act awards. As stipulated in the CEC solicitation, issued in April, the Energy Commission is only issuing awards to projects that receive an award from the federal government.

Other estimated awards resulting from the CEC’s solicitation include:

$5,000,000 to South Coast Air Quality Management District for PHEV Medium-Duty Commercial Fleet Demonstration and Evaluation

$1,000,000 to Navistar for the Development and Manufacture of medium-duty Plug-In Electric Vehicles

$553,000 to Sacramento Municipal Utility District for Charging Infrastructure for Plug-In Hybrids and Electric Vehicle Demonstration with General Motors

$103,500 to Sacramento Municipal Utility District for Charging Infrastructure for Plug-In Hybrids and Electric Vehicle Demonstration with Ford

$100,000 to Sacramento Municipal Utility District for Charging Infrastructure for Plug-In Hybrids and Electric Vehicle Demonstration with Chrysler

Final award amounts may vary significantly from the estimated amounts. The Energy Commission will determine final award amounts after discussions with each proposed award recipient. Factors the Energy Commission may consider include, but are not limited to, the amount of funding received from the US Department of Energy, eligibility and budget for each part of the final proposed scope of work, and the amount of funding required to allow the project to proceed as described in the proposed recipient’s final proposal