Nissan North America and Adopt a Charger to Provide Complimentary Charging Opportunities to California Electric Vehicle Owners

LOS ANGELES, April 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Working with Adopt a Charger to accelerate the widespread acceptance of electric vehicles to address environmental concerns, Nissan North America has "adopted" 15 electric vehicle chargers in California.

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Through the relationship, Nissan has installed and will maintain three Aerovironment Level 2 chargers at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).  In San Francisco, at the Music Concourse Garage in Golden Gate Park, Nissan sponsored four Level 2 chargers and an additional eight 120v Level 1 outlets.  The chargers are free to the public and provide convenient charging opportunities in these two high-traffic locations. 

"Working with Adopt a Charger, we're providing this community service in an effort to increase electric vehicle acceptance and make ownership more convenient by helping ensure chargers are available in high-traffic areas," said Jon Brancheau, Vice President – Nissan Marketing.  "Nissan's commitment to zero emissions goes beyond the LEAF; we want to help transform global societies to adapt zero emissions vehicles as a way to address environmental concerns and promote energy independence."

As a nonprofit organization, Adopt a Charger works with organizations and individuals to donate funds used to install and maintain fee-free electric vehicle chargers in public places. As such, Nissan and Adopt a Charger selected LACMA and Golden Gate Park to host the chargers as they both are highly-visited family attractions, with large concentrations of electric vehicle owners. Additionally, both venues are aligned with Nissan and Adopt a Charger's sustainability goals and objectives.

"As our first corporate sponsor we made sure to carefully research the best places to offer Nissan's adopted chargers," said Kitty Adams, executive director of Adopt a Charger. "We found that LACMA and Golden Gate Park have several characteristics that make them the perfect venues. We truly believe that Los Angeles and San Francisco residents will greatly benefit from this new public service."

According to a UCLA study, Los Angeles will be a leader in the U.S. market for electric vehicles, where nine percent of new vehicles will be electric by 2015. Additionally, as one of the top 100 most attended international museums (according to The Art Newspaper), LACMA proves to be a great candidate for the chargers, bringing in nearly 1 million visitors annually.

Additionally, San Francisco's highly-trafficked Music Concourse Garage is a main parking structure used by people near and far as they visit Golden Gate Park, Music Concourse, de Young Museum, California Science Center, and the Japanese Tea Garden. 

About Nissan North America
In North America, Nissan's operations include automotive styling, engineering, consumer and corporate financing, sales and marketing, distribution and manufacturing. Nissan is dedicated to improving the environment under the Nissan Green Program and has been recognized as an ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year in 2010, 2011, and 2012 by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency. More information on Nissan in North America and the complete line of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles can be found online at www.NissanUSA.com and www.InfinitiUSA.com.

About Nissan
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Japan's second largest Japanese automotive company by volume, is headquartered in Yokohama, Japan and is an integral pillar of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Operating with more than 248,000 employees globally, Nissan provided customers with more than 4 million vehicles in 2010. With a strong commitment to developing exciting and innovative products for all, Nissan delivers a comprehensive range of fuel-efficient and low-emissions vehicles under the Nissan and Infiniti brands. A pioneer in zero emission mobility, Nissan made history with the introduction of the Nissan LEAF, the first affordable, mass-market, pure-electric vehicle and winner of numerous international accolades including the prestigious 2011 European Car of the Year award.

About Adopt a Charger
Adopt a Charger is a nonprofit organization founded in March 2011 to accelerate the wide spread adoption of plug in electric vehicles by broadening the charging infrastructure.  Its unique approach matches a sponsor with a host site located at a popular public destination:  parks, colleges, museums, beaches and the like. For its first major initiative, Adopt a Charger collaborated with the California State Parks to install Electric Vehicle Service Equipment (EVSE) at 100 parks.  This organization is also working with the California State University system, U.S. National Park Service – Golden Gate Recreation Area, and with regional museums including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  By "adopting" a charger, the sponsor agrees to make a donation to Adopt a Charger to cover the cost of EVSE hardware, installation, maintenance, electrical usage and administration for three years at each charging location. 

SOURCE Nissan North America