By Joe Salimando www.eleblog.com
One of the items that attracted a lot of attention at the October 2010 NECA Show was an Electric Vehicle “pump” – a charging station – in the Schneider Electric (Square D) booth.
That wasn’t a big surprise, as you literally can’t take a walk without running into news (some of it seemingly written or spoken in a breathless manner) about the coming of the EV. For example, a check last week of the Google News site found 3,474 references for “electric vehicles.”
While most of the articles are written for a general audience, what follows are pieces (some written by me) aimed at the electrical industry – including contractors and distributors.
EVs Are Here! (from Electrical Contractor magazine)
Reports on an industry phone call on EV charging:
- Speakers from ECOtality + Coulomb on what they’re working on (using DoE funding).
- Eaton product line manager Mike Dixon talks about his company’s efforts + views.
Back in February, reporting from the Electrical Drive Transportation Association’s conference (held in conjunction with the Washington Auto Show) included:
- Ideas on electric vehicles from three Republican politicians and the EPA’s Administrator.
- Are we trying to make the move to EVs succeed? Or are those who seem to be behind that move trying to help them . . . fail?
- How the EV and The Smart Grid fit together (kinda-sorta . . .).
- A little from a PG&E exec, and a lot from a fellow from Duke Energy – two utility people on the EV.
From last August (these posts are 1-year-plus old now, so some of the stuff in here might be history, and not current) – from my trip to the PlugIn2009 trade show:
- HEVs, PHEVs, BEVs, EVSEs & More (8/20/09)
- Other stuff from my PlugIn2009 notebooks (8/26/09)
Links for much more info
No, that is nowhere near the be-all and end-all. Here are some places to go if you want to follow EV developments VERY closely:
DoE page: Alternative & Hybrid Vehicles
PlugIn2010 Show – next year’s is in North Carolina, July 18-21
Green Car Advisor (on Edmonds.com)
Green Car Reports (from HighGear Media)
EV.com – you gotta admire whoever chomped down on this URL!
EV World – ditto.
But will the dogs eat the dog food?
Of course, there’s another issue – which troubles me, personally: Will the EV craze lead the nation to a complete and utter disappointment? My thoughts were:
1. The Chevy Volt’s 40-mile range isn’t much. The idea that the Volt can get 340 miles thanks to its “extender” (a gasoline engine) doesn’t make it all that attractive.
2. The Nissan’s Leaf’s 100-mile range isn’t much. For example, it won’t take my wife and I from the Washington metro area to the beach (a relatively short drive). Are we supposed to buy a 3rd car to do this?
Will the EV work? Yes. Will some local electric grids have trouble accommodating their customers if a lot of them opt for EVs? Almost certainly. And there’s a lot more to think about, electrically.
But my thinking involves people and money. Personally, I don’t have $30,000 (that’s what one of these is going to cost, more or less, after a government subsidy) for a 3rd car. Looking around, I don’t see a lot of people who have that kind of cash handy.
Further, I’m not sure how people will react when their auto dealer tells them this: “Oh, by the way, you probably are going to need to pay $2,500 more to perform electrical alterations to your house. But we’ll take care of it for you – we’ll roll that cost into your auto loan!”
In other words: I’m not all that sure that the dogs (the American people) will eat this particular dog food.
Expert – if disruptive – opinion
Then I ran into someone with more sophisticated (and more educated) thoughts on this matter. His name is John Peterson, and his stuff is posting to SeekingAlpha.com, where you can read it for free.
I began “following” Peterson because he writes regularly (and with strong opinions) on Energy Storage. As I think ES is already important, on the way to becoming Very Important, I’d like to know more. And SeekingAlpha.com is about investing; if I could find some way to pick the right ES stock(s), I could do well.
Peterson is the only regular poster on that site whose words have moved me to “subscribe.” He’s relevant here because of the following pieces on EVs:
The Cruel Realities of EV Range – the graphic in this one is a doozy.
If you think this fellow knows what he’s talking about, your thoughts might tend to . . . oh boy, this EV thing isn’t going to last long. At least, that’s what I’m starting to think – if Peterson is right, those of us who have/had high hopes for EVs are in deep doo-doo.
What should that mean to an electrical contractor? You are supposed to serve your customers, not talk them out of decisions on which they are fixed. At the same time, you need to be aware of what is illusion and what is reality.
Best advice: Make hay while the Sun shines. Educate yourself. Jump in on this trend. But be aware of the potential downside.
November 10th, 2010 at 6:03 am
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