Houston to get electric car charging stations

Houston is about to get some electric cars and charging stations:

The Renault-Nissan Alliance today announced that Nissan is entering into an agreement with the City of Houston to advance zero-emission mobility in the city by promoting the development of an electric-vehicle charging network and policies to support widespread adoptions of electric cars.

The announcement, made at the Houston stop of the Nissan LEAF Zero Emissions Tour, helps pave the way for the 2010 introduction of Nissan LEAF, the industry's first all-electric, zero-emission car designed for the mass market. Nissan already has a similar working agreement with Reliant Energy, of Houston, one of the largest competitive electricity providers in Texas. Today's announcement paves the way for public-private collaboration to foster electric-vehicle growth and development.

"For more than 100 years, Houston has pioneered advances in the energy field. With the same spirit of innovation, Nissan and the Renault-Nissan Alliance are committed to lead the way in the field of zero-emission automotive technologies," said Carlos Tavares, Chairman, Nissan Americas. "We are the only global automaker bringing an electric-vehicle lineup to drivers on a mass-market scale and at an affordable price."

As part of the agreement, Nissan and the City of Houston, along with Reliant Energy, will develop plans to promote a charging infrastructure for electric cars that encourages home and workplace charging, as well as a public-charging infrastructure. The partners will work to coordinate the establishment of policies and help streamline charging infrastructure deployment. Nissan also has agreed to make available a supply of electric vehicles to the City of Houston and in and around the metropolitan area.

Houston is one of 14 cities that have joined the Clinton Climate Initiative C40 in a commitment to make their cities more electric vehicle-friendly. To that end, the city intends to add 25 electric vehicles this year, bringing to 40 the total number of plug-in cars in the city's fleet.

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