Ford and Portland General Electric (PGE) announced a collaboration to help prepare the city of Portland and the Pacific Northwest for the operation of electric cars.
Ford and PGE will work together to share information on charging needs and requirements to ensure the electrical grid can support the necessary demand for electric cars, as well as partner on consumer education outreach around electric cars.
Ford and PGE have also agreed to work together with state and local governments to support charging station permitting, electric car incentives and future legislation or regulations. Car incentives and an easy charging station permitting process are considered to be two key to elements to electric car acceptance in Portland and across the country.
PGE is partnering with state and local government, higher education, the automobile industry, and businesses to expand the electric car infrastructure in Oregon. In early August, PGE opened the nation’s first quick-charge station at its World Trade Center headquarters, which complements the network of more-than 20 charging stations now up and running across PGE’s operating areas. Ford will draw upon PGE’s partnership with Portland State University to further study urban mobility and the integration of energy and sustainable design.
Ford will launch two all-electric vehicles – the Transit Connect Electric light commercial van in North America in late 2010 and in Europe in 2011, followed by the Focus Electric passenger car in North America in 2011 and Europe in 2012. Two next-generation hybrid electric vehicles and a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle follow in North America in 2012 and Europe in 2013.
