Powering the Next Era of Transportation

January 27, 2010

By Alleyn Harned | January 27, 2010 at 12:15 PM EST |

Senator Orrin Hatched opened today’s activities with a note that costs will downscale over time, and that the mass produced Model T came out at less than half of the cost of early models. EDTA continued a collaborative approach to enhance the electric vehicle industry in the US with a great variety of speakers. Former Governor Patak. Charged the industry with growing jobs in the US, and Theodore Craver with Edison International challenged industry and utilities to anticipate and address the power draw of level 2 (220 volt) charging.

A morning panel entirely agreed that smart communication between grid and vehicle was a major key fo future success. Gridpoint envisioned the evolution of charging stations from “dumb plugin” to “smart plugin” with an emphasis on active management of intelligent vehicles. Coda sees battery pricepoint as a main driver and Coulomb is seeing orders of 10-25 thousand charging points in single cities in Europe. Developing open standards will lead to success. As we move from charging to information management, technology and smart systems can integrate with existing utility bills and make changes easier on the consumer. Jhonson Controls was sure to point out that Lithium Ion batteries in cars are safer than cellphone and laptop units, and that research and development growth beyond the stimulus is needed. (mobile post)