(Raleigh, N.C. – November 6, 2013) The North Carolina Plug-in Electric Vehicle (PEV) Taskforce held their fall Implementation Summit, October 24, 2013 in Conover, N.C. to discuss PEV deployment initiatives in North Carolina. Guest speakers included Cornelius Willingham from Nissan North America and Daniel Witt from Tesla Motors.
Mayor Pro Tem Kyle Hayman, City of Conover, who welcomed participants to the summit, stated “The City of Conover is pleased to host the NC PEV Conference. It is another example of the city’s willingness to embrace the future of automobiles, while being good stewards of the environment, and developing advanced manufacturing partnerships.”
More than 70 attendees gathered to learn more about DC fast charging deployment efforts from Nissan North America, Tesla Motors and Brightfield Transportation Solutions (BTS). Collectively, these three organizations are installing approximately 35 DC fast chargers in North Carolina. Presentations from the summit can be found here
“Electric vehicle adoption in North Carolina moves us towards a more energy secure, economically vibrant and environmentally sound future” stated Stan Cross, Co-Founder and Principal of Brightfield Transportation Solutions. “This is why BTS is excited to be deploying solar-integrated Brightfield Charging Stations across the state.”
The summit also featured breakout sessions focused on deployment initiatives, reducing barriers and capitalizing on opportunities, as well as how the Taskforce can help lead next steps, such as integration with renewable energy for charging stations and developing a recognition program for retailers that install PEV charging stations.
“The ideas generated at the summit are very exciting for North Carolina,” said Katie Drye, Project Manager, Transportation Initiatives, Advanced Energy. “One topic discussed for the Taskforce to focus on in 2014 is marketing a statewide corridor of charging infrastructure to promote range confidence, and to make owning and driving a PEV in North Carolina more feasible.”
This idea is actually closer to reality than consumers may think: a representative from Tesla Motors was able to drive a Tesla Model S from Raleigh to Conover – a 160 mile trip – by only stopping to recharge once at Tesla’s new supercharge station located in the Alamance Crossing Center in Burlington, N.C.
This summit marked the half-year point since the release of the NC PEV Readiness Plans, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Cities Program, in February 2013. Since then, there has been an infusion of deployment activities across the state ranging from DC fast chargers to workplace charging.
About the NC PEV Taskforce
The NC PEV Taskforce is a voluntary stakeholder organization led by Advanced Energy and the North Carolina Department of Commerce. The Taskforce was launched in 2011 and since then has received an infusion of resources through a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Cities Program through Centralina Council of Governments (project called NC PEV Readiness Initiative: Plugging-in from Mountains to Sea). Project collaborators included: Advanced Energy, Land-of-Sky Regional Council, NC Solar Center/NC State University, Piedmont Triad Regional Council and Triangle J Council of Governments. The NC PEV Taskforce is currently in the implementation phase of the state-wide readiness plan.
About Advanced Energy
Advanced Energy is a planning, technical and engineering services firm headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., that provides market-based energy solutions. We work with electric utilities, state, federal and local governments, manufacturers and a wide variety of public and private partners. Advanced Energy offers program design and implementation, consulting, training, testing and research to provide market-based energy-related solutions for our five markets: Transportation, Buildings, Industrial, Motors and Drives and Renewables.
Our Transportation Team takes an integrated, holistic approach to help all stakeholders and members of the community understand, plan for and implement emerging transportation initiatives.
No comments:
Post a Comment