The creation of the Woodland Gateway Shopping Center in Woodland, California was a typical example of retail development in an American suburb. The shopping center was approved by the city council in May 2006 and is still under development with Costco acting as an anchor store. During the approval process, however, the city council stipulated that the new shopping center would need to be greener than its competitors. The City of Woodland, Petrovich Development, the Electric Auto Association of Greater Sacramento and Tesla Motors lived up to this promise with the insertion of an EV charging station.
The six-charger station was spearheaded by Tesla Motors which installed its first public charger as part of the Woodland Gateway project. The station will also serve Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs) with two chargers dedicated for quick refills. EV drivers with the growing number of conventional EVs will be able to use two Avcon chargers, which are capable of recharging any EV with the help of an adapter. The Small Paddle Inductive (SPI) charger represents the next generation of charging because it simply slides into a recharging slot rather than connecting to an electric port.
The Woodland Gateway station represents a midway point for commuters in Reno and Silicon Valley. Drivers from the professional communities of Silicon Valley can take their Teslas, converted Chevy Trailblazers and other EVs to Lake Tahoe without worrying about fuel. The creation of a multi-charger station makes sense in the Golden State since California has served as one of the primary testing grounds for EVs in the United States.
Woodland residents are standing on the frontlines of the EV revolution with their new multi-charger station. The compatibility of conductive and inductive charging stations to a broad range of vehicle models is necessary to keep the next generation of EVs running. The shopping center’s anchor businesses (Costco and Target) have tried hard to connect their operations with green efforts in places like Woodland. The fervor for zero-emission, low-impact vehicles in California looks like it has influenced enough community groups and businesses to make an “electric highway” possible. With the Woodland charging station as an anchor, this highway can connect to EV and hydrogen fuel stations elsewhere in the state for a “green highway.”
