Local drug maker Biogen Idec is dedicating 10 electric car rechargers this morning at its facility in Research Triangle Park as part of the federal government's subsidization push for electric cars.

The number of rechargers represents a new standard for corporate offices in the area, with a half-dozen other Triangle companies planning to install 10 rechargers in the coming months. The feds are paying more than a third of the cost of the rechargers and the electric cars in the Triangle phase of the program.

Biogen Idec, which develops drugs for multiple sclerosis, is based in Weston, Mass., and employs about 900 people at its manufacturing facility in RTP. Currently four of those employees drive plug-in electric cars to work, which means that more than half of the new rechargers will not be immediately used.

Nearly $50,000 of the cost of the rechargers at Biogen Idec was offset by federal stimulus funds distributed by the Triangle J Council of Governments, a regional planning organization. Outdoor chargers typically cost between $10,000 and $20,000.
 

Visitors to Durham now have a place to recharge their electric cars.

The two free charging stations installed this week at Neal's Garage are city's first, said owner Chris Snipes. A spokeswoman for Durham City Hall said city staff is not aware of any other public charging stations.

Snipes paid about $6,000 to install the 240-volt chargers at 1907 West Markham Avenue, near Duke University's campus.

The so-called Level 2 chargers are sufficient to "top off" a battery pack while the motorist is out having dinner or shopping downtown, within walking distance of Neal's Garage.

Raleigh, by comparison, has at least a dozen public charging stations, and plans more than 30 by the end of this year.
 

The all-electric Nissan Leaf will go on sale in North Carolina this fall, nearly a year after the zero emissions auto debuted in this country.

But the base price of the 2012 Leaf will be $2,500 more than this year's model, listing at $35,200. That doesn't include the $7,500 federal tax credit available for electric cars, which cuts the cost by about a fourth.

To date the Leaf has been sold on the West Coast, Arizona and Tennessee through online orders. The company has sold 4,400 since December.

The company will begin taking online orders Aug. 4 for the general public, but customers who have previously reserved the car can order July 25. A Nissan spokesman said the Leaf should be available at most dealerships in North Carolina.

State regulators this morning gave Duke Energy the go-ahead to offer customers free home charging stations for plug-in electric cars.

Charlotte-based Duke plans to distribute about 150 of the pods to customers who buy or the Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf and other electric cars soon to be released to the mass market. The charging stations have a retail value of $1,500 to $2,000.

The electric company told the N.C. Utilities Commission it needs to analyze the demands the 240-volt chargers put on the electric grid to determine what upgrades will be required to prevent system overload in Charlotte and other areas where electric car owners tend to concentrate.

Progress Energy plans to offer a similar program but details have not been finalized. Raleigh-based Progress projects that electric car buyers in the company's service territory will be concentrated in Raleigh, Cary and Asheville.

The nation's first all-electric car for the mass market is making its debut in the Triangle today.

The Nissan Leaf is available for test drives until 2 p.m. in Research Triangle Park. The car, which boasts a 100-mile range on a single charge, is expected to be available for purchase later this year.

As part of a national promotional tour that began last year, the Leaf will also make a stop at the State Farmers Market in Raleigh this weekend and at the Concord Mills mall in Charlotte next week.

Five Leaf cars are available for test-driving, and more than 50 test-drives have been logged at RTP today. Fourteen will be available for test-drives at the farmers market this weekend.

The all-electric Leaf and the Chevy Volt, a plug-in electric hybrid, represent this nation's first wave of mass-market electric cars. They are heavily backed by the Obama Administration with millions of dollars in stimulus funds for research, development as well as installation of public charging stations.

But the public's embrace of electric cars, and validation of the government's investment, remains a wild card. Experts say that electric cars will fare best when gasoline prices are high, prompting a shift in customer behavior.

Raleigh's first electric recharging stations will be unveiled tomorrow, a futuristic bit of technology that will become increasingly commonplace as electric cars begin breaking into the market over the next several years.

City officials plan to showcase two recharging stations in front of city hall at 285 W. Hargett Street at 10:30 a.m. The pods were installed last week, and a third will follow in front of the convention center in the coming week.

The recharging stations, with 9-foot long cords, will provide free electricity. The parking spaces are not reserved for drivers with electric cars, so anyone will be able to use them for now, but they will have to pay the parking meter.

In all, the city expects to have 25 to 30 electric recharging stations in the next year. The municipal projects are part of a bigger wave that will bring more than 350 recharging stations to the state, most of them financed by federal stimulus money.

Raleigh will have more than 100 electric car recharging stations in the next two years as funding for the curbside pods keeps yielding new announcements.

The N.C. Department of Commerce today announced $625,000 in federal stimulus funding to defray the cost of the recharging stations. This latest announcement is part of an $8 million grant award to pay for alternative fuels and advanced transportation technology around the state.

The state had been slated to receive about 350 recharging stations in the next two years through a combination of stimulus money, research grants and industry funding.

That number is now expected to exceed 400 charging stations as pending grant applications translate into grant awards.  Much of the cost will be paid by stimulus funds, which are designed to help transition the nation's economy and infrastructure from fossil fuels to alternative energy resources.

The Triangle's reputation as a national hub for electric vehicle development just got a big jolt with today's announcement that this region has been selected to host a major industry conference next year.

The Electric Power Research Institute, the power industry research arm, picked the Raleigh Convention Center for its 2011 conference on the plug-in electric car.

It'll be the first time the confab is held outside California, the nation's undisputed leader in the electric car realm.

"The Research Triangle area is an appropriate location that is well-known as an incubator of entrepreneurship, innovation and thought-leadership," said Mark Duvall, director of Electric Transportation at EPRI, in a statement.

The Triangle is getting ready to turn into a testing ground for electric cars. Read more about it here.