It’s been a little over two months since I first covered the launch of CarStations, a website community dedicated to electric vehicle charging stations. This past weekend the site added a new EV charger finder search tool to the homepage that lets visitors search by zip code, city, or state and the response has been very positive!
This tool has been in the works since the beginning and is a much needed addition in my opinion as it makes the site much more functional. Along with the search utility, several new fields have been added that help designate which charging technology is available per location such as J1772 or NEMA 5. Eventually the site plans to let visitors filter the map by charging brand and charge type but that isn’t up quite yet.
I spoke with one of the site cofounders today, David, who is a long time EV owner and enthusiast. He is particularly excited about the Nissan Leaf and has one on pre-order that should be arriving soon. I was told he has been communicating with different Nissan reps and has nearly finished adding all of the Nissan dealer specific charging locations in California which is awesome!These chargers provide a safe, fast and friendly way for new EV owners to charge up and make it easier to go distances of over 100 miles (the range of the Leaf) without worrying about running out of juice.
Car Stations is doing a great job of working with EV enthusiasts and local businesses to create community and connection. When it comes to charging, even the fastest methods still take a lot longer than filling up with gas and it’s important to know what kinds of resources are nearby. This is an excellent opportunity for small businesses, especially green ones, to connect with customers and invite them in while their car charges up. Car Stations encourages these connections with its open comment system and wiki styled interface. anyone can chime in and start sharing which is cool.
Also new to the website is a video tutorial (posted above) that helps new users get started. I found the interface very easy to use and have watched excitedly as over 300 stations were added in the previous two months by volunteers, visitors, reps and the site founders. Looking forward to the next expansion and future updates. Share any ideas for the site here or directly at CarStations as the team is keeping a very open mind and really working with EV owners to get it right.
