Preparing Infrastructure and Consumers for Plug-in Electric Vehicles

As the United States races to put 1 million plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) on the road by 2015, several questions remain unanswered. Where will these vehicles be charged? Can our electrical grid handle the increase in demand? How will these vehicles impact the economy? Partnered with FirstEnergy, Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study (AMATS), NorTech, and others, the University of Akron's (UA) PEV Rollout Coalition, led by Ping Yi, Ph.D., at the Ohio Transportation Consortium, is searching for answers to these questions and more. Yi's Plug-in Electric Vehicle {PEV} Readiness study is evaluating market growth and the economic impact of PEVs, green transportation, and energy (including "smart grid" and battery technology), and the best charging station locations.