After Gutenberg

Driving an electric vehicle is one example of how to make use of clean alternative fuels for transportation. It quite possibly will make organizations well-positioned in the near future.

An EV success story from the Old Dominion (Virginia):

As they travel from house to house, meter readers for public utility company Virginia Power are enjoying quiet, clean rides in their EVs. The company’s 17 EV pickup trucks can travel 50 miles on a single battery charge.

The utility began purchasing EVs in 1993 to test and promote their use. As an electricity provider, EVs make good business sense to Virginia Power. But the company also is interested in cutting U.S. dependence on foreign oil and promoting a cleaner, more energy-efficient technology.

Austin Energy, the publicly owned utility in Austin, Texas, is another utility company that, in addition to wind energy, sees EVs as good business. Indeed, Austin Mayor, Will Wynn, pledged $1 million in city rebates to help citizens and businesses purchase the first wave of plug-ins to roll off assembly lines. And, besides originating the PHEV 50-City initiative, Austin Energy is also a key member of the Plug-In Partners campaign.

BTW: If you wish to see the coalition convincingly argue that a plug-in, flex-fuel, hybrid electric vehicle is the best, near-term solution, watch the webcast of the Plug-in Partners press conference.

Efficiency And Ease, Without Emissions

The electric vehicle or EV has the potential to revolutionize transportation. EVs are quiet, produce no tailpipe emissions and release 97 percent less pollution per mile than gasoline cars.

EV potential is so compelling that Dominion Virginia Power has a substantial commitment to advancing the technology, and to encouraging its use. The company established a full time EV Department in 1994, and has an EV fleet, one of the country’s largest. These vehicles perform routine business tasks and are used in research, demonstrations and operational testing by customers.

Dominion Virginia Power is helping organizations embrace EV technology today. For instance, it helped the Greater Richmond Transit Company and the Henrico County School System bring EVs into their bus fleets. The company and the U.S. Postal Service also tested EVs on residential delivery routes in Fairfax.

EV acceptance will require safe, reliable and uniform charging stations. Dominion Virginia Power and Delco Propulsion Systems joined forces in 1996 to promote convenient inductive charging. Dominion Virginia Power became the licensed southeast regional distributor for the Delco MAGNE CHARGE inductive charging system. Electric Vehicles

I wonder if all the Virginia Power Electric Vehicles are GM pickups?

More Efficient, More Ubiquitous

“I fail to get your point about positioning?”

Well, you really should visit EPRI and get an understanding of the strategies they are advancing. Meanwhile, let’s talk infrastructures, O.K.? BEVs (Battery-powered Electric Vehicles) are similar to PHEVs (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles) and FCHVs (Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicles); all get electricity from the Grid; store the energy electrochemically in batteries*; and, have electric traction motors that draw electricity from the batteries to power the vehicle. Such energy conversion is more efficient than well-to-wheels power. The Grid is more ubiquitous than the fossil fuel infrastructure.

Note: While batteries are the most common sources, there certainly are other vehicular energy storage alternatives.

And, electric vehicles are like computers…

“Because you plug them in?”

Well, yes, and they are, or at least, can offer the potential of, bi-directional exchange. In theory, a modern, optimized grid uses various ways to shave peak load, to include V2G (Vehicle-To-Grid) connections.

Lots and lots of batteries connected to the Grid can comprise a temporary energy repository. And, potentially, many generator sets located in PHEVs and FCHVs could provide substantial, distributed, backup power on a short term basis.