page_title: Plug-in electric vehicle
section_title: Availability of recharging infrastructure
hierarchical_section_title: Plug-in electric vehicle / Disadvantages / Availability of recharging infrastructure
caption_attribution_description: English: Three converted Prius Plug-In Hybrids Charging at San Francisco City Hall public recharging station
context_page_description: A plug-in electric vehicle is any vehicle that can be recharged from an external source of electricity, such as wall sockets, and the electricity stored in the rechargeable battery packs drives or contributes to drive the wheels. PEV is a subset of electric vehicles that includes all-electric, or battery electric vehicles, and plug-in hybrid vehicles. In China, plug-in electric vehicles are classified as new energy vehicles. Sales of the first mass-production plug-in cars by major carmakers began in late December 2010, with the introduction of the all-electric Nissan Leaf and the plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt.
  Plug-in cars have several benefits compared to conventional internal combustion engine vehicles. All-electric vehicles have lower operating and maintenance costs, and produce little or no local air pollution. They reduce dependence on petroleum and may significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, depending on the electricity source. Plug-in hybrids capture most of these benefits when they are operating in all-electric mode.
context_section_description: Despite the widespread assumption that plug-in recharging will take place overnight at home, residents of cities, apartments, dormitories, and townhouses do not have garages or driveways with available power outlets, and they might be less likely to buy plug-in electric vehicles unless recharging infrastructure is developed. Electrical outlets or charging stations near their places of residence, in commercial or public parking lots, streets and workplaces are required for these potential users to gain the full advantage of PHEVs, and in the case of EVs, to avoid the fear of the batteries running out energy before reaching their destination, commonly called range anxiety. Even house dwellers might need to charge at the office or to take advantage of opportunity charging at shopping centers. However, this infrastructure is not in place and it will require investments by both the private and public sectors.
  Several cities in California and Oregon, and particularly San Francisco and other cities in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, already have deployed public charging stations and have expansion plans to attend both plug-ins and all-electric cars. Some local private firms such as Google and Adobe Systems have also deployed charging infrastructure. In Google's case, its Mountain View campus has 100 available charging stations for its share-use fleet of converted plug-ins available to its employees. Solar panels are used to generate the electricity, and this pilot program is being monitored on a daily basis and performance results are published on the RechargeIT website. As of December 2013, Estonia is the first and only country that had deployed an EV charging network with nationwide coverage, with 165 fast chargers available along highways at a minimum distance of between 40 to 60 km (25 to 37 mi), and a higher density in urban areas.
  The importance to build the infrastructure necessary to support electric vehicles is illustrated by the decision of Car2Go in San Diego, California, that due to insufficient charging infrastructure decided to replace all of its all-electric car fleet with gasoline-powered cars starting on 1 May 2016. When the carsharing service started in 2011, Car2Go expected 1,000 charging stations to be deployed around the city, but only 400 were in place by early 2016. As a result, an average of 20% of the carsharing fleet is unavailable at any given time because the cars are either being charged or because they don't have enough electricity in them to be driven. Also, many of the company's 40,000 San Diego members say they often worry their Car2Go will run out of charge before they finish their trip.
caption: Converted Toyota Prius plug-in hybrids recharging at San Francisco City Hall charging station.
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