The project to collect and analyze data will be completed in September 2020, while installation of the 50 fast chargers along the corridor is expected to be completed by March 2017. This will provide drivers with multiple fast charging points per site at the more than 20 high-traffic locations that are part of the project. All CHAdeMO EVs and Combo EVs can be charged at DRIVETHEARC stations.

CHAdeMO EV users can activate the charger using the DRIVETHEARC app, credit card, EVgo Access Cards, and EZ-Charge Cards. Combo users can activate the charger using credit card, EVgo Access Cards, and EZ-Charge Cards.

An integrated international cooperation, NEDO is funding the DRIVETHEARC corridor as part of its mission to improve energy conservation and promote new energy technologies, as well to help facilitate government relations, research and information exchange between the US and Japan.

In partnership with Kanematsu, a DRIVETHEARC smartphone app is also in development and will provide users with key real-time convenience features such as navigation to charging stations within cruising range and will help reduce charge waiting times with charger vacancy information.

Captured driving stats will be available to users, and Nissan, Kanematsu, EVgo and NEDO will analyze and measure charger use patterns to better inform future EV charging projects globally.

Nissan is partnering in DRIVETHEARC as part of the automaker’s ‘Infrastructure for All’ strategy. Nissan has played a leading role in growing the number of EV fast charging stations in the US from 250 stations in 2013, to an anticipated 2,000 stations by 2017. This provides Nissan LEAF drivers with access to the largest metro area network of fast charging stations in the country. The DRIVETHEARC corridor enhances the existing EV infrastructure Nissan has supported as part of its No Charge to Charge promotion, by connecting the metro areas of Monterey, the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento and Lake Tahoe.

As a global trading house with expertise in the electronics and information technologies business, Kanematsu has been collaborating with Nissan and EVgo to release the new DRIVETHEARC smartphone app. The DRIVETHEARC smartphone app is designed for the DRIVETHEARC stations and the EVgo stations. It navigates EV drivers to optimal stations based on cruising range and charging station status. The app enables EV drivers to monitor the real-time status of the charging stations, select an appropriate station, and charge their EVs using the app’s authorization process or conventional payment authorization methods. The EV cruising range feature based on NissanConnect Data Link Service will be available in the spring of 2017.

As the local partner of the project, EVgo is managing the installation of the DRIVETHEARC infrastructure. The corridor represents the newest addition to EVgo’s national network of more than 800 EV fast charging stations across 66 markets.