Nissan 'adopts' 15 electric car chargers in California

A non-profit is annoying to speed installation of public chargers for electric vehicles by getting companies to "adopt" them.

Adopt a Charger says it works with group and individuals to get them to contribute funds used to install and keep fee-free electric vehicle chargers in public places.

More public chargers denote more consumers can be comfortable with the notion they won't be stranded without juice if they buy an electric car. That encourages electric-car sales, which is useful to the environment. As more electric cars are sold, more companies can be attracting into sponsor charging stations.

The non-profit has found a clear first applicant to participate in Nissan, maker of the Leaf electric car. Nissan North America is espousing 15 electric vehicle chargers in California.

As part of its deal, Nissan paid for installation and has agreed to maintain three free Aerovironment Level 2 chargers at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In San Francisco, Nissan is subsidizing four Level 2 chargers and an additional eight 120-volt Level 1 outlets at the Music Concourse Garage in Golden Gate Park.

Five latest car Engine technology

There are people who see the rising corporate average fuel economy standards 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 as bad news. They bemoan the death of the big engines, the V-8s that delivered lots of power and sucked up a lot of gas. They say that driving would not be fun anymore, that we'll all be forced to buy dull cars with high fuel economy scores. 

Then there are others who have known the CAFE standards would have to rise, given the price of oil, U.S. dependency on foreign oil and the effects of engine emissions on climate change. They saw the higher fuel economy requirements as a challenge, and they began to work on new technologies that would be good for the planet, good for our wallets and still cool. These people are called engineers.

Here are five engine technologies available today or in the very near future, at a variety of price points. These examples…and there are more like them being invented every day promise that the future of driving will still be fun, whether it's in a tiny city car with a direct-injected engine or a supercar with a push to pass hybrid booster button.