Electric Vehicles: Return to Residential?

By Joe Salimando                             www.eleblog.com

For a variety of reasons, many people in this field – from journeyman electricians to electrical contractors – aspire to something more than residential work. Included in there somewhere is the lack of profitability for the contractors and the trial-by-repetition of most electrical installations in new housing construction.

It’s possible that the dawn of the electric vehicle might open up a new opportunity for some contractors to re-enter the residential market. As it turns out, your humble blogger has done a bit of research into this subject, including a journey last summer to the PlugIn2009 conference + show, and attendance this past January at the Electric Drive Transportation Association meeting (held in conjunction with the Washington D.C. Auto Show).

To avoid a long-winded exposition, here’s where you can find some facts and things to think about:

1. ABI Research claimed (recent press release) that the market for plug-in vehicle charging station infrastructure will go from 20,000 stations this year to 3 million installed in 2015, worldwide.

1. According to a March 17 report from Voice of America – a news source paid for by your tax dollars and mine – it’s already happening. A snippet: Urban planners are deciding where to locate more than 11,000 charging stations in 11 major cities. They want those stations up and running when the first mass-market electric cars from Nissan and General Motors go on sale at the end of this year.

1. The basics (like the standards for the charging stations, etc.) are still being settled out in this market. At last August’s PlugIn2009, I heard an Eaton executive say “I’ve been participating in [these standards activities] for six or seven years myself. I didn’t really understand everything he had on that slide.” I ran that quote by him via e-mail, and he confirmed it. See the blog included this here.

1. One fear – of companies like Nissan, which is going to offer buyers the Leaf, an all-electric vehicle – is that the things will just sit in the driveway for weeks while the difficulties of getting a charging station installed (and inspected) at one’s house are surmounted. Read about that and more here.

1. I’m not sure if the electric vehicle is marketable, or if it is a good idea (in 2010). But politicians love it; it’s the right side of the argument for them. For a look at what four of them had to say, check out this special report.

1. What’s envisioned for the electric vehicle infrastructure won’t work without a smart grid right alongside of it. This might matter; read more about it here.

1. Who’s at the forefront of the EV movement? The list includes some American auto companies (dinosaurs that our government pulled out of the mire) and a number of not-very-creative electric utilities. After hearing one top executive from each company speak, I wrote a very snippy piece here. You might want to skip this one . . . unless you are no fan of auto execs and utility CEOs.

1. Some of what’s being described sounds (to your humble blogger) like a gaggle of experts describing a Rube Goldberg machine.

1. There’s an alternate description of the new generations coming of EVs, which are formally referenced (and grouped) as “plug-in electric vehicles” or PEVs. The skeptics call them “coal-fired cars.” I am not kidding.  The Power Generation and Distribution Blog had a back-and-forth about this, with 30 comments submitted – it printed out at 26 pages (single-spaced).

To summarize, the major points are:

1. The move to PEVs is not yet organized. Lots of stuff remains to be figured out. You might end up thinking that’s pretty messed up; but that’s the way it appears to be.

1. You might decide for yourself, after reviewing all of the evidence, whether this is green and sustainable. You might come down on the side of the “coal-fired car” guys. While your humble blogger IS a fan of the PEV idea, it would appear that this idea is still up for discussion.

1. Your decision on #b almost doesn’t matter (I’m sorry). If the car companies, the utilities, and the national government are all behind this, and pushing, significant purchases of PEVs in your market might just happen anyway.

1. Nissan’s approach, which is to target specific cities and line up electrical contractors (and others) to get accomplished the work of installing charging stations in homes, might work. In other words: From what I heard from a Nissan executive, the company isn’t going to do a wide-area roll-out of the Leaf – just a launch in limited U.S. markets.

1. Charging stations are going to be built in major metropolitan areas – in places the public can access, not just homes – to enable PEV sales and use in the local area. Even if the idea of residential work doesn’t turn you on, this is an opportunity you probably should not overlook.