Western Governors push for long-term transmission planning, infrastructure for electric vehicles

Western governors, car manufacturers and electric utility representatives meeting here today agreed that electric vehicles will become mainstream only with coordinated, long-term infrastructure planning and development.

The integration of electric vehicles (EVs) to the electric grid was a major topic of discussion on the opening day of the Western Governors’ Association’s http://www.westgov.org Winter Meeting. The governors and panelists discussed current and future efforts that are needed to accommodate EVs and ensure greater numbers can be plugged in without major disruptions to the electric grid.

Governors attending the meeting are Brian Schweitzer (Mont.), Chairman; C.L. "Butch" Otter (Idaho), Vice Chairman; Felix Camacho (Guam); Jim Gibbons (Nev.); Bill Richardson (N.M.); Ted Kulongoski (Ore.); Gary Herbert (Utah); and Dave Freudenthal (Wyo.).

Participating in the discussion were: Mark Duvall, Director of Electric Transportation at the Electric Power Research Institute; Pedro J. Pizarro, Executive Vice President, Power Operations at Southern California Edison; and Tom vonReichbauer, Director of Finance at Tesla Motors. Tesla is one of the few companies that already is producing vehicles, but many automakers are expected to enter the market in 2010.

"Electric vehicles intersect a number of policy issues that the Western Governors’ Association is working on, including decreasing our dependence on oil, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and ensuring reliability in our electric transmission grid," said Ted Kulongoski, who moderated the panel discussion. "WGA has taken the stance that it’s better to be proactive rather than reactive on these issues, and finding ways to enable these new vehicle technologies is a step in the right direction."

In 2008 WGA created a Transportation Fuels Council, which brought together governors’ representatives to examine what states were already doing and what they could do collectively to accelerate the development of alternatives fuels and vehicle technologies. The council produced a report early this year that recommended the Governors pay close attention to the issues regarding the integration of electric vehicles in the grid and the coordination of transportation infrastructure corridors.

"The Western Governors have long been leaders in ensuring that we take advantage of the West’s vast clean energy resources and have been emphasizing the need for responsible, effective, and timely infrastructure planning," Gov. Herbert said. "By working together to develop infrastructure corridors, we can collaborate with the auto manufacturers to ensure that our efforts are coordinated with new vehicle technologies. We have asked our Transportation Fuels Council to work with the automakers on this issue and report back to us in June at the WGA Annual Meeting."

The Annual Meeting will be held June 27 – 29th in Whitefish, Montana.

Contact:

Alex Schroeder
303-588-0056