US-based ECOtality has completed the installation of the first 1,000 Blink Electric Vehicle (EV) Level 2 residential charging stations for The EV Project.
The company started installations of the Blink residential charging stations in early 2011, coinciding with the delivery of vehicles to EV Project participants.
ECOtality, the project manager of the EV Project, also has begun initial installations of publicly accessible charging stations.
ECOtality will install nearly 14,000 commercial and residential charging stations by the end of this year in 18 major cities and metropolitan areas in six states and the District of Columbia.
The Blink Network of charging stations enables all EV drivers to charge at commercial locations conveniently identified along the way through a variety of options including interoperable RFID cards or fobs, smartphone applications, and mobile phone and credit card based payment options.
ECOtality also unveiled the Blink Mobile Application for smartphones and mobile devices, with which users can find and reserve Blink chargers, utilize GPS navigation, and receive charge status notifications.
The EV project is funded by the US Department of Energy through a federal stimulus grant of $114.8m secured from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The project will also secure $230m in private investment and will provide an EV infrastructure to support the deployment of 8,300 EVs.