Ford and Portland General Electric Partner to Prepare Region for EVs
24 August 2010
Ford Motor Company and Portland General Electric will collaborate to help prepare the city of Portland and the Pacific Northwest for the operation of electric vehicles. Ford and PGE will work together to share information on charging needs and requirements to ensure the electrical grid can support the necessary demand for electric vehicles, as well as partner on consumer education outreach around electric vehicles.
Ford and PGE have also agreed to work together with state and local governments to support charging station permitting, electric vehicle incentives and future legislation or regulations. Vehicle incentives and an easy charging station permitting process are considered to be two key to elements to electric vehicle acceptance in Portland and across the country.
PGE is partnering with state and local government, higher education, the automobile industry, and businesses to expand the electric vehicle infrastructure in Oregon. In early August, PGE opened the nation’s first quick-charge station at its World Trade Center headquarters, which complements the network of more-than 20 charging stations now up and running across PGE’s operating areas. Ford will draw upon PGE’s partnership with Portland State University to further study urban mobility and the integration of energy and sustainable design.
Ford will introduce its first pure battery electric vehicle, the Transit Connect Electric small commercial van, this year. In 2011, Ford will deliver the Focus Electric passenger car to market, and in 2012, will introduce new next generation lithium ion battery powered hybrids and a plug-in hybrid in North America.
Excellent. Ford appears to be stepping up to take a leadership position in infrastructure and eventually vehicles. Municipalities can do their part by building City-Charge Stations. These would be solar roof parking lots, with appropriate storage equipment to allow 24 hour charging for a small fee.
Another project would be for municipal waste to electric conversion pilots. Potentially this would capture sewage treatment methane to fuel a turbine. Another could be solid waste to syngas fueling SOFCs. It is probable that DOE would fund some portion of these type municipal EV electrification projects.
Posted by: Reel$$ | 24 August 2010 at 03:41 PM