The Next 10 Years for EVs: Leaders, Policymakers Optimistic

By Shannon Arvizu

Shannon Arvizu

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Shannon Arvizu is a clean-tech strategist and educator. She is currently a doctoral researcher at Columbia University and has spent the last two... More

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2,433 views Apr 23, 2010

Sen. Orrin Hatch

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Three U.S. senators joined a "who's who" of electric vehicle industry leaders on Capitol Hill yesterday to discuss the theme, "Electric Drive Turning Points: Changing a Century of Transportation in 10 Years."

The occasion was the Electric Drive Transportation Association's  (EDTA) annual congressional briefing, opened by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who spoke about the benefits of electric vehicles for the nation at large.

EDTA

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U.S. Capitol

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Southern California Edison - Plug-In Electric Vehicle website

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2011 Chevrolet Volt pre-production prototype, January 2010

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The senators mentioned the need for domestic jobs and energy production, and acting on climate change issues. Both have been active in the passage of consumer tax incentives and research funding to facilitate electric vehicle deployment.

Retiring Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) also spoke enthusiastically about the EV future. In regards to stimulating the industry to move in this direction, he said, "I don't want to let things happen, I want to make things happen."

Electric utility representatives stated that the electric generation sector is ready to be the new fuel provider for the transportation industry. Mike Dixon, from Duke Energy (a company that services five states in the mid-Atlantic region), said, "Middle America is ready for a new way to drive."

Dixon mentioned that charging cars on the grid is not as daunting of a task as some think, especially considering the initial grid impacts of other electrical appliances like refrigerators and air conditioners in the past. As for capacity, Dixon says, "We have it. If you put a Chevy Volt in every household, you would use less than 10 percent of today's total energy capacity."

Doug Kim, from Southern California Edison, predicted 100,000 to 200,000 plug-in vehicles in that utility's region by 2015. The company is working on three areas: providing seamless installation services for home charge ports, providing reliable electric charging service, and educating the consumer on issues such as charge rate plans.

He says it is important to prepare the consumers before they buy the car and stress the economic benefits of plugging in. "If electricity usage is equivalent to about two cents a mile, it would cost less than a dollar to charge a Chevy Volt with a 40-mile range," Kim said.

Don Karner, the President and CEO of eTec, presented his company's plans for providing a charge port infrastructure in the cities in which the Nissan Leaf will be released.

Under the umbrella of The EV Project, eTEc (in conjunction with several state/city governments, universities, electric utilities, non-profit organizations, and electric vehicle firms) will install 1300 charge ports in each of the five regions and collect data on the initial roll-out of Nissan Leafs within the next 2-3 years.

"We want to show that EVs make good business sense," Karner said, "and that EV charging makes good business sense."

Tony Posawatz, the Vehicle Line Director for the Chevy Volt at GM, began his statements by noting that GM had repaid $8.1 billion in loans from the U.S. and the Canadian government.

Looking to the future, he said, "We are looking ahead one vehicle at a time, one manufacturer at a time, one supporting charging infrastruture at a time." Government assistance has helped established and emerging automakers to get through "the valley of death" for a new technology, he added.