Google has stated that it is counting itself as the largest electric-vehicle charging station operator in the United States with new and faster Level 2" chargers installed at its headquarters in Mountain View, California. The new installation will bring in the total capacity of charging points to 200 chargers with 250 on their way. Moreover, Google is also including new generation of plug-in vehicles in its Gfleet car sharing program along with expanding its EV charging infrastructure.
Overall, the company aims at allotting 5% of its parking space to electric vehicles by equipping them with electric chargers free of charge for Goggle employees. Rolf Schreiber, technical program manager for electric transportation at Google has remarked on the company.s blog that their plans for extended charging stations has encouraged Google employees to buy EV.s of their own which will inspire others as well.
The charging stations will be used by GFleet car sharing program for Googlers as well as Google employees personally owned EV.s. The new Gfleet includes the Chevrolet Volts and Nissan LEAFs and will be upgraded by newer models as soon as they are available.
To manage and expand its current charging stations, Google will be working with Coulomb's ChargePoint Network. These charging networks use smart cards for recognizing customers at stations and an online portal gives customers remote access to track charging data, greenhouse savings and electricity expenses. In addition, customers can use Google Maps to source a free charging spot or reserve one.
The net result will be annual savings of more than 5,400 tones of CO2. This equals taking off 2,000 cars off the road, or avoiding 14 million vehicle miles every year.
Electricity.com Team