[ news clips] More Electric Vehicles Needed to Spur Electric Vehicle Development It’s a conundrum. Getting more electric vehicles into consumers’ hands is the key to increasing demand for the technology. “Clearly, an essential step is pushing utilities and private companies to build charging infrastructure so EV drivers are assured they will have a spot to plug in,” said Timotej Gavrilovic, a The Tesla charging station in Limon. consultant with GTM Research. “Putting more EVs on the road will Plata Electric Association are among the be necessary for innovation and markets other co-ops that also either recently into evolve, and to allow the transportation stalled charging stations in their territory sector’s power potential to be harnessed as or are planning to in the near future. a revenue-generation resource.” But even with this local support, EV In Colorado, several electric co-ops are sales are not taking off quickly. They working with their local communities to peaked in 2014 at 0.72 percent of total new install charging stations to encourage EV automobile and light-duty truck purchasuse. Gunnison County Electric Associaes. Last summer almost 500,000 EVs were tion installed a charging station outside on the road — just a drop compared with its office and worked with Crested Butte, the more than 250 million vehicles in the Lake City and Gunnison on charging United States. stations in those communities. Mountain “All of this creates significant financial Parks Electric, Holy Cross Energy and La hurdles to EV infrastructure expansion,”
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Gavrilovic said. “Entrepreneurship is very difficult in the energy industry because it requires significant capital investment. [Right now] consumers are skeptical of EV battery life, and that will limit scale.” Longer-range and more affordable EVs may help encourage use, primarily in urban areas. Some Colorado co-ops are also working with local car dealers to promote the purchase of electric cars. As more residences become charging stations, the co-ops are working with homeowners to make sure their household transformers are sufficient for the new electric load. Some also offer time-of-use rates to encourage members to charge their cars at night when electricity is available and less expensive. All of this is expected to become easier to manage as energy storage options become available — and as more electric vehicles take to the roads. — CFC Solutions
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