Vijay Vaitheeswaran co-author of Zoom, and corresponent for The Economist, moderated the first panel of the conference marvelously.
A world filled with electric vehicles might seem like blue sky to many, but certainly not to the members of the panel, with whom it is an inevitability, as the term blue sky retakes its literal meaning.
… “it’s not just the juice, it’s the jalopy …”
“What if tens of millions of cars and trucks could connect to the electric grid? What impact would that have on geopolitics, the natural environment, the electric grid and family pocketbooks? How would the world be different if cars and trucks could run on electricity in addition to oil?
Panel:
Shai Agassi – Founder and CEO, Project Better Place
Mark Duvall – Program Manager, Electric Transportation, Electric Power Research Institute
Deron Lovaas – Vehicles Campaign Director, Natural Resources Defense Council
Chelsea Sexton – Executive Director, Plug-in America
Dave Vieau – CEO, A123 System
What is going to happen to the electric Grid in Cities when all those people start plugging in their cars— Our electricity goes out often without this new invention of the plug in automobile. Also I had a lawn mower that was electric and I have had gas powered and I would not buy an electric mower again because once it develops electrical power it is totally unrepairable where you can repair the gas powered lawn mower often.
@ Lucy – Many thanks for your thoughts!
The mass adoption of plug-in vehicles may actually be beneficial to the grid.
By managing the window in which the vehicles are recharged, electrical loads can be more balanced. Cars will, for the most part, recharge at night when there is excess capacity.
During the day, electric vehicles might even help to cushion the effect of peak loads by providing power back to the grid … although this possibility is further down the road.