Utility load growth from EVs can actually benefit all ratepayers by providing societal benefits and reducing utilities’ average cost of service.
A New Initiative, a New Fuel Cell Car
Regulators should presume all advocates of a technology desire to gain unfair advantage over competitors.
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) asked state regulators for permission to build an estimated 25,000 EV chargers at sites across its service area in Northern and Central California. If approved, this program would be the largest deployment of EV charging stations in the country. The chargers would be located at commercial and public locations, including multi-family dwellings, retail centers, and workplaces. PG&E proposes to own all of the infrastructure, but contract with third parties to build, install and maintain the chargers and manage customer billing.
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and automaker BMW are teaming up to test the ability of electric vehicle batteries to provide services to the electric grid. If successful, the pilot program could pave the way for utility payments that could stimulate further customer purchases of electric vehicles. PG&E selected BMW to manage a minimum of 100 kW of electric demand on PG&E's system. BMW will help PG&E manage power demand on its grid in two ways.
NRG eVgo completed installation of the largest corporate deployment of EV charging stations at Sony Pictures Entertainment's (SPE) lot and its offices in Culver City, California. SPE elected to participate in the eVgo Ready for Electric Vehicle (REV) program to provide turnkey EV charging solutions and charger maintenance and driver support 24 hours a day. The Level 2 chargers, dedicated for the use of individual employees, are compatible with all EVs, fully charge most during the workday and integrate seamlessly with eVgo's comprehensive network.
Ford Motor Company teamed up with DTE Energy to build Michigan's largest solar array at Ford World Headquarters. The project, funded by DTE Energy, will provide employees with 360 covered parking spaces and 30 charging stations for plug-in electric vehicles. The solar canopy will have capacity to generate 1.038 MW of electricity. Under a recently finalized agreement, DTE Energy will construct, operate and maintain the carport for 20 years. Construction is slated to begin in September and be completed in early 2015.
NRG eVgo, a subsidiary of NRG Energy, plans to roll out the EZ-Charge (SM) platform, an initiative that will offer EV drivers the ability to access multiple EV charging networks with a single all-access card. The EZ-Charge card will support all eVgo public charging plans and enable EV drivers to enroll in participating partner network plans either through their charging company or directly with eVgo. eVgo expects to begin distributing EZ-Charge cards this summer to EV drivers with participating plans in San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas-Ft.
How to find a future that works.
IKEA plugged-in four Blink electric vehicle charging stations at one of its Chicago-area stores as part of its partnership with Car Charging Group. This initiative represents the 13th such U.S. project for IKEA, with installation underway at other locations. In all, installation of units currently planned will bring the number of Blink charging stations available at IKEA locations to 54.