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By Charles Sowell  

DECEMBER 9, 2010 12:18 p.m. (0)

Come spring more than 100 public electric vehicle charging stations will be online giving drivers across the state a low cost fuel-efficient option to traditional gasoline internal combustion engines.

Just this week, more than 80 stations opened statewide, including stations located in public spaces in Greenville, Spartanburg, Rock Hill and Union, said James Poch of Plug in Carolina, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the state make the transition to a new way of traveling.

The up-front costs of installing a charging station are pretty high, Poch said, running into thousands of dollars per station. The public stations are being installed through a $480,000 federal grant.

Private stations have a slightly lower cost, Poch said, and use a special 240-volt system that can charge an electric vehicle, or a gas-electric hybrid in about 10 minutes. There are tax credits available for installing a station. In South Carolina the credit is up to $1,500.

“The time will vary according to the kind of vehicle,” Poch said. “People who use a hybrid, like the (soon to be released) Chevy Volt can use a standard 220-vold home outlet to charge their car. Autos that use a purely electrical system require the 240-volt chargers.”

The battery only vehicles take up to eight hours to charge using a 240 volt charger. Nissan’s Leaf, for example has a 24 kilovolt battery that takes around eight hours to fully recharge.

It is designed for local trips, which average less than 40 miles, roundtrip.

“That’s the reason I think gas/electric hybrids will be the way to go for the near-term,” he said. “When you run low on battery power the gasoline engine cuts in.”

Despite the high up-front costs and the relative expense of electric vehicles, the Volt costs about $40,000 and Nissan’s Leaf total electric car is about $33,000, there are definite cost advantages.

“You have a lot more stability in pricing when you use electricity,” Poch said. “It costs less than 3 cents per mile to run an electric vehicle, whereas the cost with gasoline-only vehicles is around 10 cents per mile. You don’t see the same kinds of fluctuations with electricity prices as you do in gasoline.”

Over the past few weeks the cost of gasoline has soared nearly 20 cents per gallon in the Greenville and Spartanburg area.

The chargers are made by Eaton Corp. and are located in municipal parking garages, public streets and participating retailers in Columbia, Charleston and Blythewood in addition to the Upstate cities.

In most cases a two-way data communication and payment system will be incorporated into the station for convenience.

“We are excited to join a distinguished group of industry leaders propelling South Carolina’s position as the first EV-ready state in the country,” said Michael Cale, Utility Partners of America chief executive officer. The company is handling the actual installation of the stations.

“Installing EV portals represents a natural extension of our AMI/AMR capabilities, and we are thrilled at the opportunity to partner with Plug In Carolina and Eaton Corp. to prepare for the future today.”

The stations will have one, two, or four charge points each which will allow for multiple cars to recharge.

“UPA was a great fit to manage the build-out component, due to their expertise and success in large-scale field deployments,” said Poch.

Over the course of the next few years as many as a dozen new electric or electric/gasoline hybrids are expected to hit the market, Poch said.

Poch founded Plug In Carolina after reading online about work setting up a network of charging stations in California. “It was something I got excited about. Most of my career has been involved in sales and this seemed to be a natural extension of that, plus the added environmental benefits and cost savings for consumers.”

Industry analysts say the budding electric car industry faces the same kinds of issues with refueling that the automobile industry faces in the early 20th Century.