Thomas W. Lewis

A DC fast charger connector usable with electric vehicles that will be available the end of this year. Used with permission from EVnut.com.

7/6/2010

Do you want to know more about developments in the plug-in vehicle market?  If yes, then save out the evening of Tuesday, July 27th to attend Public Night of the Plug-in 2010 conference in San Jose.

This event debuted in San Jose two years ago, and took place in Long Beach last year.  So, there is certainly potential for it to not return to the bay area until 2012.

There is no need to worry about advance registration because the $10 entrance fee to Public Night is payable at the door.

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April 15, 2009

A long but interesting post from CalCars about the Automotive Task Force’s position on the Chevy Volt, and Plug-in electrics in general, starts out:

“At a moment when the future of two of the Detroit Three hangs in the balance, the new administration’s Automotive Task Force (ATF) is relying in large part on the expertise and strategic outlook of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for its evaluation of GM’s and Chrysler’s prospects. Whatever BCG’s expertise on the auto industry in general, we are concerned …”

Read the entire post here: http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/1055.html

April 9, 2009

In the case you are interested to know detail about what initiatives the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus package (recovery bill) may fund in California related to the Smart Grid, there is public information available on this topic.  The reason this is important for cleantech/greentech is that the ARRA appropriated $4.5 billion for the Smart Grid country wide which will reduce energy consumption and enable the transition to renewables.  The reason it is important to Californians is that we need to compete with other states to get our piece of the pie, not only to shift our energy paradigm, but also for jobs.

Relevant information may be found here.  There are links to presentations by the three Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) given at a workshop on March 27.  I attended the workshop and am glad to see that the information has now been posted.  The IOUs provide information about the projects that they want funded, often listing the dollar amount, the expected jobs created, and even the vendors involved.  Projects are in the following categories: Smart Grid testing, Smart Grid demonstrations, synchrophasors, grid energy storage, auto-derivative battery storage, security, microgrid, smart-thermostats, PHEV truck fleet, demand response, and EV studies.

April 7, 2009

Here is a link to a daily Podcast about electric vehicles that I recommend. The focus is on objective of mainstream, commercially available EVs and extended range EVs (E-REVs.) There is also some discussion about Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs) and conversions. But primarily it is all about new EVs & E-REVs that are highway capable.