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South Carolina Selects AeroVironment Chargers

The fight for a little spot on the sidewalk is heating up in the US, as the companies which develop chargers for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles are now racing for more and more contracts.

After yesterday Coulomb announced the launch of ChargePoint America, a program which will lead to the installation of 5,000 free in-home charging stations on both US coasts, AeroVironment announced today it has won the race in South Carolina.

With the help and money of the South Carolina Energy Office, AeroVironment will begin this month installing charging stations with one, two, or four charge points, in seven of the state's cities.

The program which supports the charging points deployment is called Plug In Carolina and was designed to provide accessible EV charging stations at municipal parking garages, public streets and retailers.

“With seven cities located across the state installing charging stations, this project is helping to establish not only EV ready cities but positioning South Carolina as the first EV ready state in the country,” James Poch, Plug In Carolina executive director said.

“AeroVironment submitted the most comprehensive proposal among the eleven that we received, not only reflecting their deep understanding of the technology but also of the practical infrastructure considerations involved in creating a reliable EV charging network.”

The fierce competition in this new industry sector can do nothing but give a push to the quick adoption of electric vehicles. According to a study released by Pike Research, as many as 4.7 million charge points will be installed worldwide from now and until the year 2015.

So far, the companies which provide charging stations are AeroVironment, Better Place, Coulomb, ECOtality, GE, Panasonic, Samsung and Siemens, but more are poised to join the race.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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