Search Results Found For: "california energy commission"

Retailers fear Minnesota legislation would allow utilities to corner EV charging market

Should electric utilities be allowed to own EV charging stations? In a free-market economy, it’s generally considered unhealthy for companies that produce a product or service to also own the distribution channels—that’s why liquor companies don’t own bars (in the US), and airlines don’t own airports. For an example of the evils that can result… Read more »

PG&E to offer vehicle-to-grid export rate for commercial EVs

Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology promises to be a true win-win: a powerful grid balancing resource for utilities and a source of incremental income for EV owners (electric school buses seem to be an ideal use case). But before V2G can really take off, there needs to be a system for utilities to compensate EV fleet operators… Read more »

North Carolina’s governor proposes Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) program to electrify trucks and buses

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has taken an important step towards accelerating the electrification of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles in the state. Executive Order 271 directs the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to work with stakeholders to propose an Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) program that would “ensure zero-emission trucks and buses are available… Read more »

CPUC approves three new PG&E vehicle-to-grid pilots

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has approved $11.7 million in funding for Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) to develop three new pilot programs to test ways in which bidirectional EVs and chargers can provide power to the electric grid and various benefits to customers. PG&E will test bidirectional charging technology in a variety… Read more »

Is Florida’s proposed infrastructure law anti-EV or pro-competition?

Charged’s home state of Florida is something of an EV hotspot—there are an estimated 58,000 electric vehicles in the Sunshine State, and according to the DOE, Florida has the third-largest number of charging stations in the US, behind only California and New York. This progress is not the result of any particular pro-EV policies of… Read more »

Fifty utilities form group to coordinate EV infrastructure efforts

More than 50 US electric utilities have formed a new group to coordinate their efforts to expand the nation’s EV charging infrastructure. The Edison Electric Institute, a utility trade group, announced the formation of the National Electric Highway Coalition, which includes 50 EEI members, as well as the Tennessee Valley Authority. The organization is “a… Read more »

Koch Strategic Platforms invests $100 million in Standard Lithium’s extraction and processing projects in Arkansas

Koch Strategic Platforms (KSP), a subsidiary of Koch Industries (yes, that Koch Industries) plans to make a $100-million investment in Standard Lithium (NYSE: SLI). The company will use the new funding to advance a commercial project at its Lanxess facility in southern Arkansas, accelerate development of the South West Arkansas Lithium Project, and develop and… Read more »

SAE releases updates for two EV charging documents

SAE International has announced revisions to SAE J3072 Standard: Interconnection Requirements for Onboard, Utility-Interactive Inverter Systems and SAE J2847/3 Recommended Practice: Communication for Plug-in Vehicles as a Distributed Energy Source. The updated EV charging documents will play a role in advancing automotive requirements for distributed energy resources (DER) projects. The revisions to SAE J3072 establish… Read more »

VW: German auto industry push to subsidize hydrogen is “nonsensical”

The latest battle in the War of the Energy Storage Media has broken out in Germany, where the Volkswagen Group and an auto industry lobbying group (the German Association of the Automotive Industry, or VDA) are at daggers drawn over the government’s proposed plan to implement the EU’s renewable energy directive. Germany’s Federal Ministry of… Read more »

New Jersey watchdog agency says utilities can’t invest ratepayer money in EVSE

New Jersey’s Division of Rate Counsel, a state agency charged with representing the interests of ratepayers in dealing with regulated utilities, is seeking to block two companies from spending hundreds of millions of ratepayer dollars on EV infrastructure projects. In separate filings with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, Division Director Stefanie Brand is… Read more »