ECOtality Inc., an electric transportation and storage technologies company, has announced that it will offer its Blink smart charging stations free to residents and commercial host sites in the greater metropolitan Atlanta, Philadelphia and Chicago areas.

According to the company, this initiative is part of its expansion of The EV Project, a public-private partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy. Now, qualified residents in the designated regions who own either a Nissan LEAF or Chevy Volt will receive a free residential Blink wall mount charger as well as an installation credit of up to $400, subject to certain conditions.

To date, The EV Project has gathered more than 33 million miles of EV driver data that will serve to support the deployment of EVs in key markets, ECOtality says. The project is funded, in part, by a federal stimulus grant and made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Online applications for The EV Project are available here.