(October 13, 2010) DETROIT — More than 5,300 home and workplace charging stations are planned to be installed in Michigan as the state prepares for the introduction of new electric vehicle technology.

General Motors and its partners are teaming up to help give Chevrolet Volt buyers more options for charging their vehicles.

DTE Energy pledges to install 2,500 240V home charging stations for plug-in vehicles, and Consumers Energy is matching that pledge.  The utilities will cover up to $2,500 of the cost of the charging station and installation.

GM's Voltec 240 V home charging station is priced at just $490 plus an estimated $1,475 for installation.  The city of Lansing Board of Water and Light will provide an additional 25 charging stations to its customers and by the end of 2011, General Motors plans to have almost 350 charging stations in place for employees at its facilities in Michigan, with more than 100 already installed.

In addition, more than 1,500 Chevrolet dealers across the U.S. plan to install charging stations for use by customers. This number includes nearly 650 dealers that will soon begin selling the Volt in retail launch markets and approximately 900 others across the country that are authorized to provide service.

Solar powered canopy
charging station at the
Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant

More important than the total volume of charging stations is where they will be located, according to Tom Stephens, GM vice chairman, Global Product Operations. “Since our homes may soon be our fueling stations of the future we believe the most important way to make communities 'plug-in ready' is by enabling residential charging.”

Most of these stations will be placed in consumers’ garages, carports and driveways.  A few will be strategically located, such as the two GM placed in front of its headquarters at the Renaissance Center at the building’s entrance off of Jefferson Ave in Detroit.  A total of 18 charging stations will be operational in and around the Renaissance Center within the next week.

“We think this opens up doors for those Volt owners who want to charge at work or who don’t have a place at home to charge the car overnight.  They’ll be able to drive electrically when they can, and they can drive on gasoline when they need to,” Stephens said in remarks at the Business of Plugging In Conference in Detroit on Tuesday. 

“We see these stations as an incentive to our employees to join the Electric Vehicle movement … and as a demonstration to other businesses to encourage their own employees to drive greener.”

GM-installed charging stations for use by its employees in Michigan will include 34 at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly center where the Volt is built and 140 in the homes of employees driving early-build models for quality evaluation.