The Electrification Leadership Council is a coalition of business leaders whose aim is to design a large-scale EV demonstration project that will help create a national model for EV deployment.

A new group of executives from transportation-related industries came on the EV scene Friday. The Electrification Leadership Council (ELC) is a coalition of business leaders whose aim is to design a large-scale EV demonstration project that will help create a comprehensive national model for EV deployment.

ELC members include FedEx Express, Hertz, Navistar, Azure Dynamics, A123 Systems, CODA Automotive, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, ECOtality, Automatiks, GE Capital, and members of various national, state and local agencies.

“Our Council recognizes that no one entity can create a comprehensive solution for the broad scale deployment of EVs,” noted Mark Aubry, VP of Navistar’s eStar brand. “That's why we have come together to create a public and private model that will help us understand what will be required to operate thousands of EVs within a community.”

The ELC will be working with other national organizations such as the Electrification Coalition and the Electric Drive Transportation Association. The coalition is evaluating a number of local markets for the demonstration projects, which will focus on developing a more efficient, effective and environmentally friendly EV Ecosystem, including charging stations, the electrical grid, energy storage devices, battery second-life applications and local incentives.

“We work with many companies across the EV Ecosystem, have learned a lot and are hungry to share our learning, expand collaboration and further the future of transportation electrification with this large-scale, cross-industry project,” said FedEx VP Dennis Beal. “It is the responsible thing to do across the board – environmentally, economically and for our national security as we reduce our dependence on foreign oil and move towards environmentally friendly technologies.”

www.ELCouncil.com