EV Infrastructure A Waste
By Bill Visnic August 4, 2010
The refrain is growing: the new age of electrified vehicles is a good thing, but the chicken-or-egg investment in charging infrastructure everyone assumed would be necessary before people would buy them? Not necessary after all.
At the Center for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, Mich., today, several panelists in a session titled "Full-scale Deployment: Making the Business Case," reiterated what is becoming the new conventional thinking about infrastructure: don't really need it.
"Very little charging is needed in the public sector," said American Honda's Robert Bienenfeld.
Bienenfeld American Honda Motor Co. Inc.'s senior manager, environment and energy strategy, product regulatory office, said although establishing a large charging infrastructure might be a "badge of honor" for EV proponents who've long fought for a quicker pace, the vast majority of consumers are well-served by the driving range provided by the charging they can do at home.
He also said although there are concrete plans in many regions to install reasonably 
extensive infrastructure, a lot of investment in public charging inevitably will come to be judged as "stranded assets."
The message was similar at a green-car conference earlier this year, where many auto-industry sources indicated all the early angst about EV range anxiety is beginning to look unnecessary. Improving battery technology is leading to increased driving range - Nissan claims up to 100 miles for the coming Leaf - while better intelligence about consumer needs and driving habits is leading to the understanding that public charging wouldn't vital for most EV drivers.
Photos
1 - Edmunds.com charges its electric Mini at a California charging station. (Photo by InsideLine editor Ed Hellwig)
2 - The electric Nissan Leaf goes to market by year end.
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