Review of June Statewide NC PEV Taskforce Meeting

On June 19th more than 80 individuals turned out for the third quarterly meeting of the North Carolina Plug-in Electric Vehicle (PEV) Taskforce. The meeting held in Kernersville, N.C., brought together representatives from across the state of North Carolina - from state and local governments, PEV industries, academia and nonprofit organizations to regional councils of government (COG), civic groups and PEV drivers associations. Important topics of the meeting included: the current status of community PEV readiness plans for Asheville, Charlotte, the Triad and the Triangle regions.

"This meeting marked the half-way point for our "Plugging in from Mountains to Sea" PEV Planning Readiness grant from the U.S. Department of Energy," said Katie Drye, program manager, Electric Transportation, Advanced Energy. "We're working now to complete the readiness plans for each region and expect to have the finalized state readiness plan released by the end of 2012."

The meeting featured keynote speaker Terry Komlos, Zero Emissions Mobility, Nissan North America, who spoke on the roll out of electric cars and driver experiences to date. Charles Adair of the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association provided an update on recent legislative activities surrounding PEVs. Mayor Dawn Morgan of Kernersville and Mayor Allen Joines of Winston Salem both delivered a welcome address to the Taskforce members. In addition to the guest speakers, three panel sessions included:

• NC PEV Taskforce Working Groups: panelist, who are Taskforce working group chairs, discussed their research and accomplishments with the working groups since their start in January, 2012 and polled the audience for feedback.

• PEV Industry Panel, with Austin Devaney, Rockwood Lithium; Joe Joy, Modern Automotive; Skip Kurz, Praxis Technologies and Terry Komlos, Nissan North America.

• Community PEV Readiness Plan Panel: panelists discussed successes and obstacles of developing community readiness plans in their region. Participants included Land-of-Sky RC, Piedmont Triad RC, NC Solar Center, Centralina COG, Triangle J COG and Advanced Energy.

A unique feature of the meeting included interactive audience polling to capture live audience feedback and encourage participation in each panel session. Meeting participants had the option of attending a tour of Volvo Group North America's corporate campus and their new employee charging stations, as well as ride and drive events featuring the Chevy Volt and Nissan LEAF.

Presentations and pictures of the meeting will be posted to the NC PEV Taskforce website at www.ncpevtaskforce.org. The next taskforce meeting will be September 19, 2012. Please visit the NC PEV Taskforce website for more information soon!

The meeting was hosted by the North Carolina Department of Commerce, and Mountains to Sea Grant Partners, including Centralina Council of Governments, Triangle J Council of Governments, NC Solar Center, Land-of-Sky Regional Council, Piedmont Triad Regional Council, and Advanced Energy. PEV industry leaders, state, regional and local government officials, universities and colleges, electric utilities, economic development organizations, environmental groups, non-profits and other interested parties attended this meeting. For more information on the event visit NCPEVTaskforce.org.

The NC PEV Readiness Initiative: Plugging in from Mountains to Sea (M2S) planning project with funding provided by the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities Program through Centralina Council of Governments. Partners include: Advanced Energy, Land-of-Sky Regional Council, NC Solar Center/NC State University, Piedmont Triad Regional Council, & Triangle J Council of Governments