{"id":2445869,"date":"2019-07-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-01T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=308729"},"modified":"2019-07-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-07-01T06:00:00","slug":"business-monday-keeping-up-with-ev-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/business-monday-keeping-up-with-ev-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Monday: Keeping up with EV growth"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Potential electric-vehicle purchasers check at some of the options at one of the area EV Sales Event showcases this fall.<\/strong>
\u00a9Walking Mountains Science Center<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

With the novelty days for all-electric vehicles in the rearview mirror, the industry now is tasked with keeping up with the demand while at the same giving motorists the confidence they won\u2019t get stranded in the middle of nowhere with an uncharged car.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreviously, all you had to know about a vehicle\u2019s ecosystem was whether it was gas or diesel, and what was the octane rating,\u201d Cody Thacker, the head of electrification at Audi of America, told an Aspen Ideas Festival audience during a June 24 panel discussion. \u201cAnd we didn\u2019t have to worry about anything else. Clearly for the consumer, if we\u2019re going to make electric-vehicle ownership a practical reality, we have to think about the ecosystem in much broader terms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between Aspen and Snowmass Village, electric vehicles are growing in presence. The website plugshare.com most recently showed six public spots to charge electric vehicles. Among those are the city-owned Rio Grande Parking Garage<\/a>, for example, which has seven charging stations.<\/p>\n

Free test drives of the Audi e-tron also were provided at the Gondola Plaza from June 12 through Sunday. Host Aspen Skiing Co. also had Thacker speak about Audi\u2019s innovations in the electric-vehicle world.<\/p>\n

Large metropolitan cities are addressing the logistical challenges that come with the booming industry. Atlanta, for instance, passed a law in 2017 that 20% of parking spaces at new commercial and residential developments have the necessary infrastructure for charging stations.<\/p>\n

The industry\u2019s rapid expansion puts pressure on the automakers to keep up with the demand of consumers. In turn, the makers and installers of charging-station must keep up with automakers\u2019 production level. And utilities must be a partner in having the infrastructure to support the charging stations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting time,\u201d said Chris Womack, executive vice president and president of external affairs at Atlanta-based Southern Co., a gas and electric utility. \u201cIt\u2019s coming, so we know it\u2019s coming,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cwe just have to be there to support the evolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonathan Levy, vice president of strategic initiatives at EVgo, a public network of fast chargers for electric vehicles, said players in the EV industry must keep pace with each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we could leave you with one message today,\u201d he said, \u201cmy biased one is, this is here now. EVs are here. EV infrastructure is here. It\u2019s growing; it\u2019s got a lot more to do. And we have to work together to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The road to growth has had its bumps with consumers, including not having charging stations compatible with all EVs. Thacker liked it to the VHS\/Betamax confusion of the 1970s and \u201980s.<\/p>\n

Most drivers, about 80 to 9%, charge their vehicles at home. But when they stray too far from home, there\u2019s the chance no charging stations are in vicinity.<\/p>\n

Audi plans to make 22 million vehicles in the next 10 years, according to Thacker, and \u201cover the next five years we\u2019re putting in $36 billion in electric vehicle development. \u2026 We\u2019re not waiting for anybody else to come along.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where company\u2019s like Southern Co. come in.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, we want to make sure we\u2019re integrating and enabling, so that is not a barrier for you in making that decision,\u201d Womack said.<\/p>\n

rcarroll@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Potential electric-vehicle purchasers check at some of the options at one of the area EV Sales Event showcases this fall.\u00a9Walking Mountains Science Center With the novelty days for all-electric vehicles in the rearview mirror, the industry now is tasked with keeping up with the demand while at the same giving motorists the confidence they won\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2445869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 14:07:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2445869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2445869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2445869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2445869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2445869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2445869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}