On Tuesday April 12 I had the honor of being a guest expert on the San Francisco NPR radio station talk show KQED Forum to discuss the future of electric vehicles (EVs).
The show, Wall Street Embraces Tesla — But Will American Drivers Follow?, covered a wide swath of topics – from “How the Trump administration and EPA policies might affect auto manufacturers investment in EVs?” to the issue of “What happens to used EV batteries?”
director of the Climate Program at the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment, UC Berkeley School of Law.
It was a fun 52 minutes as I and Joel were asked to address about half-a-dozen questions, while frequent KQED guest Ethan Elkind received about twice as many. Unfortunately we didn’t get to address a variety of topics I had planned to bring up, including:
- How there are 30 cities in California with from 6% to 18% of new cars sales being EVs.
- That part of the probably with EV adoption is not just awareness, but confusion among consumers on the difference between hybrids, plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and pure battery electric vehicles (BEVs) – let alone the different types of chargers and availability of charging networks and locations.
- That a key reason Tesla is valued so high is that it isn’t just an auto company, but is altering two industries – auto and utilities with its battery storage products, solar panels and roof tiles.
- The future of vehicle to gird (V2G) and vehicle to home (V2H) technology where the battery in your car is used to power your home during peak usage hours and then recharged during low-demand periods and from your residential solar panels.
- Despite what happens in the rest of the US, California and its 50% purchase rate of Els will be a key driver of motivating auto manufacturers to get on board the EV train.
- And more … but hopefully next time.
And it was awesome that host Michael Krasny promoted by book in progress, “Gas Station Zero.”
