Jian Torkan, a Los Angeles attorney who is also a principal of real estate development firm ICO Group, is the new location's developer. Torkan said his positive relationship with city planners in part led [image-nocss] to the building of the charging station in San Bernardino. He also said the city was a good spot for the station since he expects large companies and government agencies to be electric vehicles' early adopters.
"The city of San Bernardino has a large number of government agencies, so it made sense to start here. I also have a personal preference for San Bernardino," he told the paper.
Torkan said he has created a new company called Re-charge-N-Go to install charging stations and is presently focused on the Inland Empire. He has plans to install three additional charging stations in San Bernardino, another in Riverside and possibly in Redlands.
The 7-Eleven store hosted a grand opening Saturday, the report said.
The new charging station will feature two chargers, one with a 220-volt connection and another with a 480-volt connection, Torkan said. Vehicle owners will initially be able to get electricity for no charge while Recharge-N-Go monitors usage patterns to determine prices.
He added that he looks forward to forthcoming technology that he said would be able to charge a Nissan Leaf to 50% of its power capacity in 10 minutes.
The chargers that are available now are more likely to help electric vehicle owners avoid being stranded.
"You're talking about just enough charge to get you home. It's to alleviate what they call 'range anxiety'," Torkan said.
The all-electric Leaf and Chevrolet Volt, which combines a gasoline engine with an electric generator, have received much attention this year, but sales of traditional vehicles still overwhelm the new technology, said the report.
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