Today and Tomorrow's EV Fuel Infrastructure - The electric car is technology’s newest weapon against climate change and air pollution, but is the electric car infrastructure ready to support this trend? However, the electric car infrastructure in the United States is still concentrated in certain regions, so you will need to do research before considering an electric car yourself.

EV fueling stations

Owners of electric cars will generally charge the batteries at home, which will work fine for short commutes and journeys. However, for longer trips they will need access to infrastructure designed for recharging their batteries.

Currently such recharging stations are not that common and can be difficult or impossible to find without special tools. Google Maps now includes recharging stations on its web-based maps, so if you can access the web you will be able to find a nearby location.

One of the current problems is the distribution of refueling infrastructure is not consistent from state to state. For example, in California there are stations in every major city while there are only three official recharging locations in the entire state of Florida.

Fortunately, Nissan is only selling the Leaf in cities and states that are actively deploying public charging stations. The Chevy Volt is also still under limited distribution in states with available infrastructure. Nissan may begin nationwide distribution in 2012.

Some energy companies are investing in electric vehicle recharging stations including NRG Energy. In February 2011, NRG began construction of 150 EV stations in Houston with plans to extend the network throughout Texas and eventually throughout the United States.

Top E-ready cities
Currently, the American cities with the best electric vehicle infrastructure are: San Francisco, Sacramento, Austin, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, Raleigh, Riverside, San Diego, San Jose and Seattle.

Cities that are rapidly improving the number of available recharging stations include: Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Providence, Dallas, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, San Antonio, St. Louis, and Tampa.

Many cities are planning to increase electric vehicle readiness in the future including: Boston, New Orleans, Miami, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Birmingham, Buffalo, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Milwaukee, Hartford, Jacksonville, Louisville, Memphis, Nashville, Norfolk, Richmond, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City and Washington.

The Rocky Mountain Institute has created a non-profit initiative known as Project Get Ready that plans to work with at least 20 cities in planning and discussing best practices especially as learned through experience with the currently existing infrastructure.

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) offers a free color-coded map showing the states with most electric charging stations. The map can be found at afdc.energy.gov. The website also allows users to download complete station data.

According to the DOE map, California currently has the most fueling stations with between 401-500. Other EV ready states include Washington, Oregon, Texas, Illinois, Michigan, South Carolina, Connecticut and Florida.