Roush Industries Ramps Up EV Charger Production

Gov. Rick Snyder and Wayne County Executive Bob Ficano helped Roush Manufacturing officials cut the ribbon on a new manufacturing project Friday.

The auto parts maker, which is rapidly diversifying into other industries, Friday began the mass manufacturing of the Blink Level 2 electric vehicle charging station.

Roush was selected as the manufacturer of the charging stations by their designer, San Francisco-based Ecotality Inc. (Nasdaq: ECTY), which won funding from the federal stimulus to manufacture thousands of the charging stations and install them in homes and at businesses -- all to gather data on how EV users will behave when charging their vehicles, and how that behavior will affect the power grid and the economy.

"There's a revolution going on for sure in this country in the way we move around in vehicles, and we want to be part of it," said Evan Lyall, CEO of Roush Enterprises, the parent company of the various business interests of entrepreneur Jack Roush, including Roush Manufacturing.

"This also represents a major transformation for us," Lyall said. "Two years ago, this plant was 100 percent auto-related. We have invented ourselves -- this plant now produces consumer products, industrial products, life sciences, even the entertainment industry. This is going to drive jobs for Michigan and drive jobs for Roush."

Lyall and Dean Massab, Roush vice president of marketing, both said the project is allowing six employees that might otherwise have been laid off to keep their jobs, and six new hires.

Snyder also praised the project.

"Roush is an excellent example of a Michigan company that has reinvented itself and is successfully applying the power of Michigan to the next emerging industry," said Gov. Snyder. "Partnerships like these help us to ensure Michigan stays on the leading edge of technology and enhances our economic development efforts."

Wayne County Excecutive Bob Ficano recalled the popular bumper sticker of the 1980s -- "Will The Last One Out Of Michigan Please Turn Out The Lights?" -- and crowed that "they were wrong then and they're wrong now." He praised Roush for its "transformation at warp speed, or in dog years, as the governor likes to say."

Pat Davis, director of vehicle technologies program at the U.S. Department of Energy, told the crowd that $2.8 billion was set aside in the federal stimulus for advanced vehicle technologies -- and that "Michigan should be proud, Livonia should be proud, and Roush should be proud, because those funds were awarded in a highly competitive fashion, and Michigan got over $1 billion of that $2.8 billion."

ECOtality is project manager of The EV Project and will oversee the installation of commercial and residential charging stations in 17 cities and major metropolitan areas in six states and the District of Columbia. The project will provide an EV infrastructure to support the deployment of 8,300 EVs -- 2,600 Chevrolet Volts and 5,700 Nissan Leafs.

The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy through a federal stimulus grant of $114.8 million, made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The grants are matched by private investment, bringing the total value of the project to approximately $230 million.

"The jobs here are important but the larger goal is energy independence," Davis said. "We spend $1 billion a day on imported oil. Two thirds of all U.S. oil is used in transportation... We cannot solve energy security and energy independence without looking at electrification of the vehicle."

The Blink charging stations form the centerpiece of the rich charging infrastructure network ECOtality is deploying as part of the DOE-backed EV Project. Recently, the Blink chargers received Underwriters Laboratories listing and production immediately started.

The home charging stations offer several advantages over conventional charging stations, including advanced energy monitoring capabilities that allow homeowners to optimize their energy usage and charge their vehicles when rates are lowest. The Blink Network charger interface -- a seven-inch LCD touch screen -- is the hub where users can receive information about their EV and Blink Home Charging Station including charge status, statistics and history.

Blink Home Charging Stations are available now to EV drivers and are free of charge to EV Project participants. The units can be installed indoors or outside at commercial locations, and both hardwire and plug-in charging stations are available. For more information, including product spec sheets, please visit www.blinknetwork.com.

As part of The EV Project, the largest rollout of EV infrastructure in history, Ecotality will monitor the energy usage and output of charging stations, to determine a viable method for mass adoption of electric vehicles and empower the smart grid.

In an interview with reporters after the event, Snyder wouldn't talk about the future of the film industry tax credit or other state tax incentives, saying next week's budget proposal will look at tax credits across the board. However, he did say that Michigan "has been living off the legacy of a broken system -- and we need to totally reinvent ourselves."