GM Partners With EPRI On Power Grid Issues For PHEVs

General Motors is working in partnership with the Electric Power Research Institute on a variety of policy issues including tax incentives related to electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The partnership puts GM in a working relationship with more than 30 electric utilities nationwide. GM hopes to shape policy issues related to the nation's electrical infrastructure and and drive the changes needed to build grids to support a substantial increase in the number of PHEVs in driveways and on city streets.

The partnership announcement was made in conjunction with the opening of the inaugural Plug-In 2008 conference in San Jose. ERPI members generate more than 90 percent of the nation's electricity and are already working in partnership with Ford via its plug-in joint venture with Southern California Edison.

GM expects to tackle issues like the safety and ease with which plug-in electric vehicles can be recharged, the rate of recharge for a vehicle and how much power will be needed to recharge a vehicle. Additionally, the public availability of and access to recharging stations at street level and in parking lots will need to be hammered out for drivers who don't live in a single-family residence.

For right now, GM is putting its money on EVs and PHEVs, but still conducts research on alternative fuel vehicles that burn cellullosic ethanol or hydrogen. GM predicts that a move to a hydrogen-based economy could happen in the 2020's or 2030's, but not before substantial investment in hydrogen infrastructure is made.

Source: AP/Wired