Making New Electric Cars Practical - Parade Mag article Oct 11, 2009

[bruce.jones]

Here is an article from last week's Parade Magazine on a company "Better Place" installing electric car charging stations. Article "Making New Electric Cars Practical" at
http://www.parade.com/news/intelligence-report/archive/091011-making-electric-cars-practical.html

[rich.carroll]

I saw that article, and even followed up on it.  Better Place has a very slick website, but it gives almost no information about any local presence.  They do apparently have a local presence in other countries, but their US presence is currently limited to Hawaii and California.  I wrote them asking if they planned any effort into the Chicago Metro or Illinois areas.  I got a canned response, that left me wanting more:

10/13/09 04:30 PM
Hi R. C.,

Thank you for your interest in Better Place.

Due to the high volume of submissions, we are unable to respond individually to each of our supporters.

In the meantime, you can become a member of our community at Planet Better Place and join us on the following channels:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Flickr
• YouTube
• LinkedIn

I am glad they are so connected with social networking, but I think they will have to do a whole lot more before they connect to me or connect to my EV.

[skip.montanaro]

If you check out the archives of the Seattle EVA mailing list or the EVDL I suspect you'll find some comments on Better Place, not all of them positive.  I won't try to represent them here.  I haven't followed those discussions carefully, and it's late (I'm tired)...

Skip Montanaro

[rich.carroll]

Green, Inc reports on the discord over Regulation of Car Charging this week.  http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/discord-over-regulation-of-car-charging/

Essentially, Green Inc reports that decisions in California for the rules for chargers are made by the California Public Utilities Commission.  California has three large investor owned utilities, and they do no agree on the issue.  Pacific Gas & Electric, Sothern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric are all split over the issue, and one of the major sticking points is whether the Cal. Public Utilities Commisssion has the right to regulate companies like Better Place and Coulomb Technologies.

There are also smaller utilities, and large public owned utilities like the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, which may create their own rules and regulations. Some community groups like the Utility Reform Network in California are also involved. 

It sounds to me like California, with the most EV chargers to regulate, has a nightmare in writing new rules and regulations that will be needed for the high amperage charging stations needed, and also for the burgeoning low amperage needs of the NEV community.

It appears the Better Place and Coulomb Technologies have their hands full, and will be extremely busy in California as this drama unfolds. Keep watching.

[bruce.jones]

Agree.  Unfortunately if a precedent is set in California it could affect the rollout of chargers across the country.  The utilities are posturing to control and manage the Smart Grid so you're right, companies like Coulomb are pioneers, and could get squashed by the regulators.  Hope not.