At the beginning of February, Linda Bluestein at DOE sent out a note inviting Clean Cities Coordinators to participate in a new quarterly webinar/discussion group on electric vehicle and infrastructure issues. The purpose of these webinar/discussion groups are to keep Clean Cities coordinators abreast of the evolving developments that affect deployment of these technologies in their communities.
The first webinar/discussion will be held on March 24, 2010 from 1:00-2:30 Eastern Time and will feature a vehicle and infrastructure discussion by Jim Francfort, INL and Don Karner, eTEC. Jim works on DOE’s Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity (AVTA) conducted jointly by the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The AVTA is part of the Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Program. The primary goal of AVTA is to provide benchmark data for technology modeling, and research and development programs, by benchmarking and validating the performance of light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles that feature one or more advanced technologies, including:
- Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle technologies
- Hybrid electric, pure electric, and hydraulic technologies
- Advanced electric drive technologies and engine technologies
- Advanced energy storage (i.e., batteries) technologies and chemistries
- Advanced climate control, power electronic, and other ancillary systems technologies
- Internal combustion engines burning advanced fuels (i.e., 100% hydrogen and hydrogen/CNG-blended fuels)
Also contributing to this effort is Don Karner, President/CEO of eTEC, of Phoenix, AZ. eTEC was mentioned by President Obama in his latest State of the Union Address and is the project manager for a DOE ARRA grant that includes 40+ project partners that will conduct the largest-ever rollout of electric vehicle infrastructure in the United States.
Jim and Don will give an overview of issues that will be of interest to many coordinators with respect to establishing electric recharging strategies in their communities. Particular areas of interest covered include types of recharging systems available, battery electric and plug-in electric vehicles and their timing for market introduction, the current state of deployment issues such as codes and standards, permitting, standardized training and more.
Future quarterly calls will include a national overview of utility developments including grid developments and other programs, regulatory overviews and industry status reports/updates.