Duh: Electric Car Recharging Infrastructure??

[PRBuzz]

A few glitches for electric cars
Your fancy new green machine is parked in the garage, but how are you going to charge it up?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- If you're looking forward to parking a brand-new electric car in your garage soon, be prepared to spend some money getting that garage in shape.

Electric cars like the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt ideally use special "quick chargers" that have to be hardwired directly into high-power lines.

Installing the chargers is not like putting in a ceiling fan. The equipment has to be fully approved, installed by a competent professional, and in most cases, a city or state inspector will have to approve it all.

You could plug your car into an ordinary wall socket, but not if you're in a hurry. Charging a Nissan Leaf would take up to 16 hours, and charging a Volt would take eight. With a quick charger, the job for either would be done in just a few hours. The Volt can also run on gasoline, but what's the point then of having an electric car?

Laying the lines for acceptance

Nissan and GM have been working with city and state governments to prepare them for the arrival of electric car so their customers don't hear, "You need your what inspected?" when they call city hall.

Both automakers are also working on public infrastructure for electric cars. But they admit that parking lot charging stations are more important for creating public acceptance of electric cars -- to do away with worries about running out of juice -- than for actual use.

"We believe that 80% of charging is going to happen at home and at the workplace," said Mark Perry,director of product planning for Nissan.