Even a cursory glance at the Nissan Leaf and the BMW i3 is enough to tell you that Nissan and BMW have taken widely different approaches to electric cars. And that?s just looking at the product; so far, they?ve also embraced entirely different fast-charge standards?Nissan with CHAdeMO and BMW with the Combined Charging System (CCS).
That hasn?t stopped these two automakers, both bullish on supporting expansion of the charging infrastructure, from jointly subsidizing publicly accessible charging hardware that?s compatible with both standards.
The two automakers have already subsidized 174 charging EVgo locations in 33 states?including 120 dual-port DC fast chargers that are compatible with both standards?and now they?ve planned the installation of another 50 dual-port DC fast chargers this year. These 50-kW fast chargers can restore about 75 miles of charge, up to about 80 percent of the battery?s charge, in less than 30 minutes.

The automakers say that their partnership will bring the total number of EVgo DC fast chargers that can use both standards to at least 668?sufficient to cover more than 50 major metro areas and 90 percent of BMW i3 and Nissan Leaf owners.

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All of the new stations are part of Nissan?s No Charge to Charge program, which gives those who buy or lease a 2013 or ...