Building code update would make it much easier for anyone to own an EV in San Jose

San Jose is essentially ground zero for electric cars. Nearly 30% of new car sales are electrified and it has one of the highest concentrations of EVs in the world. Next week the San Jose City Council is going to vote on whether to make EVs even more accessible to everyone. The proposal is to have each multi-family residence with parking to have at least once space that is EV-ready.

Charging an EV where you live is a lot more convenient than going to to a charging station. It's extremely easy to charge where you live for San Jose homeowners with a detached home or even a townhome, but things get complicated when you live in an apartment complex.

It's also worth mentioning that this would not be retroactive. The vote would be to update the building code for all future multi-family developments. 

Opponents could argue that we desperately need housing and this would be another cost to discourage builders, but given how the car market is going I think most people will expect this in any new apartment they rent in the next 5-10 years. Also, a fair compromise would be to require a 120v outlet instead of the more expensive, but much faster 220v. A standard 120v outlet is cheap and powerful enough to add 50-60 miles per night on an EV, which is enough for 99% of drivers. 

Source: San Jose Spotlight

San Jose is the ultimate electric car hotspot

In order to move the needle on climate change, one of the key transitions we have to make is to move towards sustainable transportation. Fortunately electrics cars are also usually fast and fun to drive, providing further motivation to make the switch. 

It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that San Jose is the top metro driving the EV industry. It seems like every other car on the roads is a Tesla, but several new compelling EVs are also hitting the road these days.

Despite being the 10th largest city in the country, San Jose has the 3rd highest number of EVs of any city in the US irrespective of population. It also has 2.4 charging stations for every 1,000 homes, versus the national average of 0.3 stations.

A common complaint for renters interested in EVs is that there are no charging stations at their apartments. In San Jose 12.3% of all rentals actually have stations, which is by far the most of any city. Not to mention most grocery stores and shopping centers have multiple stations, with some places like Santana Row having hundreds of chargers (have a look at the 4th floor of the parking structure on Winchester Blvd).

San Francisco came in as the 2nd best metro for EVs followed by Seattle and LA. For the full article to see all of the criteria used for the study, click here.

Lucid Motors opens Valley Fair "Studio"

Valley Fair has a new flagship electric car store, and it's not Tesla. Lucid Motors is an ultra-luxury car brand that just has a single model, the Lucid Air. It's a $100k+ sedan that competes with the likes of the Mercedes S-Class or BMW 7-Series and comes with a staggering 1,000 horsepower powertrain.

If the car and store seem eerily similar to Tesla, that's because most of the team behind Lucid are ex-Tesla engineers that helped design the Tesla Model S. Coincidentally, the very first Tesla "Store" was across the street at Santana Row. Lucid event built a high-speed charging station in the Valley Fair garage, very similar to what Tesla did across the street at the row.

While you won't be able to test drive a Lucid Air yet, you can see all of the options and trims (which are named after Californian destinations like Santa Barbara). The showroom also looks stunning, it's worth checking out if you're at Valley Fair already.

This location is one of only four with the others being Lucid's Headquarters in Newark, Beverly Hills, and Century City (LA). Eventually they will have 20 studios. Long term, they plan to offer SUVs and more affordable models as well.

Source: SVBJ

San Jose planning to double the number of electric car charging stations

San Jose is already one of the most Electric Vehicle (EV) friendly cities in the world. The combination of a progressive technological mindset, great weather, many single-family homes with garages, and a concern for the environment has led to a recipe for EV success. There are more miles driven in Teslas in San Jose than any other city in the world except for Los Angeles, which has quadruple our population.

There are already well over a thousand EV charging stalls in San Jose, many of them are free to encourage shoppers to visit or as an amenity to employees. Where can you find a free gas station?  Santana Row alone has 160 chargers, almost half of which are Tesla chargers on the 4th floor of the main parking structure (photos below).

Things are about to get even better for EV owners. San Jose has announced they will be receiving $14 million to install even more electric vehicle charging stations. This is enough to fund 1,400 universal chargers which any electric car can use, and 100 new fast chargers that can add miles almost as fast as a gas station in select cars. Public and private institutions that install chargers will get a significant rebate, which extra rebates available for low income areas and multi-unit residential buildings.

If you are thinking about an electric car, I highly recommend the Tesla Model 3. It's $36k after rebates, no maintenance for 4 years, 250+ miles of range, it's safe, fast, fun, and you can use any charger in the US including Tesla's proprietary fast chargers that are now everywhere. If interested, you can get 1,000 free miles of fast charging by clicking here.

Source: San Jose Inside

EV Week 2013 Kicks Off Today!

Electric vehicles are getting more mainstream everyday, and Silicon Valley is leading the charge (pun intended). Come check out the launch of EV Week 2013 today at Santana Row's Chess Plaza! All of the details are below. Also, don't forget to swing by Tesla's flagship US store while you're there. 

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San Jose Drivers Invited to Get Behind the Wheel of an Electric Vehicle  

San Jose, CA – Charge Across Town (www.chargeacrosstown.com) is driving forward the adoption of electric vehicles in the Bay Area with “EV Week 2013: San Francisco to Silicon Valley” – a three-city, five-day series of events and activities designed to engage, educate and excite Bay Area drivers about the benefits, ease and accessibility of driving all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Driving towards California Governor Jerry Brown’s goal of getting 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on California’s roadways by 2025, EV Week 2013 is inviting Bay Area drivers – from commuters to car sharers – to get behind the wheel of an EV and become part of the solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by driving greener, cleaner vehicles.

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, San Jose City Councilmembersand Bay Area electric vehicle, technology, civic and environmental leaders, will kick-off EV Week 2013 with a launch event at Santana Row Chess Plaza, featuring free EV test drives around Chess Plaza and an Electric Vehicle Exposition showcasing the largest selection of new plug-in and all-electric vehicles, EV charging technologies, mobile applications, and car and scooter-sharing services.  

What

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed launches EV Week 2013 in San Jose

When

Thursday, September 26.  San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and San Jose City Councilmembers will speak from 12pm to 12:30pm.

Where

San Jose’s Santana Row Chess Plaza

Santana Row between Olin Avenue & Olsen Drive

More at:  www.chargeacrosstown.com/ev-week-silicon-valley

Interview, Photo & Video Opportunities:

Thursday, September 26 – San Jose’s Santana Row Chess Plaza

Santana Row between Olin Avenue & Olsen Drive

12pm – 12:30pm – Launch event featuring San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and San Jose City Councilmembers, together with Bay Area electric vehicle, technology, civic and environmental leaders

12pm – 7pm – San Jose drivers enjoy free Electric Vehicle Ride & Drives around Santana Row Chess Plaza.

12pm – 7pm – Electric Vehicle EXPO at Santana Row’s Chess Plaza featuring:

The largest selection of state-of-the art plug-in and all-electric vehicles, including the new BMW i3, Ford Fusion Energi, Ford Focus, Ford C-Max Energi, Toyota Plug-in Prius and RAV 4 EV, Honda Fit, Honda Accord, Mitusbishi MiEV and Nissan Leaf.

Demos of the first-ever ALL electric scooter and one of the nation’s first mobile solar charging stations.

Interactive exhibits from: Tesla, Honda, Toyota, Ford, Nissan, PG&E, Schneider-Electric,Pandora, Zipcar, City CarShare, Scoot Networks, Chargepoint, DriveNow, Envision Solar, SAP, SunPower and the Center for Sustainable Energy California (CCSE).

Friday, September 27 – San Jose – Santana Row Chess Plaza

12pm – 7pm – San Jose drivers enjoy free Electric Vehicle Ride & Drives around Santana Row Chess Plaza.

12pm – 4pm – Electric Vehicle EXPO at Santana Row’s Chess Plaza.

San Jose's Tesla Store is Expanding

The very first Tesla store--which just so happens to be located at Santana Row--has outgrown its space. Unofficially I have heard that this is the most successful store in the Tesla network. The fact that I now see up to nine Model S sedans each morning on my commute is evidence that they are doing pretty damn well (I can't help but to count them). At the Row, Tesla is just moving a few spaces down into to the store formerly occupied by Burberry. In addition, they will continue to keep the area in the parking structure where they store test drive vehicles and let Tesla owners charge their cars for free.

Tesla is also hosting a party on April 3rd between 6:30pm and 9pm to celebrate the new store!

"Many of you may recall about two years ago when we opened our first new design Tesla Store at Santana Row in San Jose, California. It was our first prototype new-design store and has been a great learning experience for us during the past two years. Customer response has been so positive that we need to expand. We will be relocating to a new, larger location in the next few weeks. Thanks to everyone who has frequented our Santana Row store and has made it such a great success. We’re growing because of your support." -George Blankenship 

Source: Tesla Blog

New Electric Car Charging Stations Downtown

As a little Christmas present to electric car drivers, the week of the 20th will kick off the ability to start using the charging stations right in front of City Hall between 4th and 5th on Santa Clara Street. Coulomb Technologies will be installing at least 5 EV stations, 4 in front of City Hall and one in the San Fernando and Fourth Street garage. This is in addition to the 2 in the Convention Center installed earlier this year.

San Jose is the first city in the country to put in these charging stations. Likely Coulomb will try to turn the space in front of City Hall into a "demo" zone showing other cities how non-obtrusive EV charging solutions could be deployed in their city. Some ideas they are throwing around for this area are repaving part of the sidewalk with green recycled concrete and adding solar cooling stations.

For more info, check out the SJ Business Journal article over here.

Tesla Factory Opens In Silicon Valley

I've been debating on whether to post about this for some time since the plant is located in Fremont, but I have to give Tesla some credit since they made an honest attempt to move to North San Jose first (they were blocked by government regulations on use of their loan funds). Very likely, you have already heard the news that Tesla has moved into the gargantuan NUMMI plant just a few miles away from SJ. The question I have, is how will this impact our city?

I have a few thoughts on this. San Jose has really made a name for itself for incubating and promoting green tech companies. In fact, we have the largest green tech cluster in the US and potentially the world. You can find everything from alternative energy companies to technologies making existing products more energy efficient... all right in our back yard. While green tech may not be as exciting as the .com extravaganza that made us famous in the late nineties, having Tesla nearby complements not only our existing green tech companies, but will help the region hit a critical mass for green tech much the same way we did for semiconductors and internet technologies.

Right before the turn of the millennium, I remember casually meeting the CEO of a tech company at SJC. It turns out he was planning to relocate his entire company to San Jose, and when I asked him why he told me "We want to be closer to ground zero. In our industry, this is where all the action is." We need to build that exact same kind of mentality for green tech. Green companies should be telling themselves that they have to be located in San Jose because that is where all the energy behind the green tech movement is emanating from. Having a company next door who is the leading pioneer of electronic vehicle technologies is going to help a lot in building that perception. So Tesla, welcome to the neighborhood! You can borrow the lawnmower anytime.



Tesla took possession of the Nummi automotive plant in Fremont, California earlier this month and opened the doors to employee tours on Wednesday. In the months since Tesla announced the purchase, negotiations with Nummi have enabled the repurposing of a complete paint shop, four mechanical press lines, a blanking line (used to cut sheets of aluminum before stamping), and a crane for use in the Model S production process. The purchased machinery will simply be retooled and tested before use. The Hydraulic Press Line has started to arrive; 50 trucks are en route to transport the entire line to Fremont. 

Tesla is focused on hiring the most talented people, retooling the facility, and creating the most energy-efficient and innovative automotive production process in the industry. 

For an explanation of the manufacturing process, please read Manufacturing VP Gilbert Passin's recent blog post. 

Nissan's Drive Electric Tour Comes to San Jose

If you're wondering what it would be like to drive a 100% electric car, you can put your assumptions to the test this weekend. Nissan is showing off their Leaf electric vehicle in Downtown San Jose, which is already well equipped to handle "EVs" thanks to multiple charging stations. You can register for a test drive by clicking right over here. Press release below:

NISSAN DRIVE ELECTRIC TOUR

All-electric Nissan LEAF brings

23-city consumer test-drive tour to San Jose

WHAT:         The “Drive Electric Tour…sponsored by the 100-percent electric Nissan LEAF” gives consumers a first-ever chance to experience all-electric driving. In addition to the first public test-drives, the tour also provides information about the car, its technology and its features.

The public will have the opportunity to drive the LEAF in San Jose starting on October 29 at the Dean Karnazes Silicon Valley Marathon.

WHEN:        Friday, October 29: 9am-6pm

         Saturday, October 30: 8am-6pm

         Sunday, October 31: 8am-5pm

WHERE:        Dean Karnazes Silicon Valley Marathon

                         Almaden/Woz Parking Lot

                   232 Woz Way

                         *The drive electric tour will be located at the Almaden / Woz Parking Lot, corner of S Almaden & Woz Way.

           

PHOTO/VIDEO:       

·         Consumer reaction to first-ever test-drive of an all-electric vehicle

·         Displays and interactive kiosks about alternative technology

·         Nissan spokesperson on opportunity and advantage of all-electric vehicles

MORE:          Interested drivers can learn more about the tour, and register to drive the Nissan LEAF at www.drivenissanleaf.com.

Sales of the Nissan LEAF begin in December in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona and Tennessee. In January 2011, sales begin in Texas and Hawaii. The Nissan LEAF will be available nationwide by the end of 2011.

New Electric Car Charging Stations Installed in San Jose

Coulomb Technologies is a visionary company that is currently building infrastructure to support a barrage of upcoming electric vehicles (e.g. Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model S). Coulomb's very first customer was actually the City of San Jose, and around city hall you'll find 3 of their first charging stations. So when Coulomb received a $37m government grant to build thousands of free charging stations across California, what city do you think they picked to start with? Well, as of yesterday we're the proud owners of the first 2 Chargepoint America EV charging stations which are located in the McEnery Convention Center parking lot. Several hundred more are to follow in other parts of San Jose and Silicon Valley, giving us a nice head start in building out infrastructure for electric cars.