Electrifying Transportation Conference

On May 27th RTEC and the NC Solar Center held a one-day event featuring the technological, economic, and societal implications of fueling our transportation fleet with electricity. The topics for discussion were :

• Essential advancements in vehicles, batteries, and storage
• Interface with the electric grid, including dynamic balancing of supply with demand and renewables)
• Research in consumer choice of green alternatives
• The requirements for preparing a community or state for widespread electric transportation

The NC State EcoCar team was asked to hold a display at the conference where we could aid in transferring knowledge of sustainable technologies and alternative transportation.

Numerous speakers joined in on the conference and had a chance to look at the various efforts and programs occuring nationally for “Green” transportation.

• Daniel Sperling, founding Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis.
• Alan Taub, the Executive Director of Research and Development at General Motors.
• Chelsea Sexton, the co-founder of Plug-In America, an electric car advocacy group, and was a key individual in the 2006 film Who Killed the Electric Car?
• Dave Larson, Chief Economist, PFC Energy
• Reid Heffner, Booz Allen Hamilton
• Tony Markel, Senior Engineer, National Renewable Energy Laboratories
• Mark Johnson, Industrial Liaison, FREEDM Systems Center/NCSU
• Vikram Rao, Executive Director, Research Triangle Energy Consortium
• Mark Perry, Nissan
• Laura Schewel, Rocky Mountain Institute
• Julian Prosser, City of Raleigh
• Lyle Shuey, VP Marketing and Sales, Bright Automotive
• John Langston, Duke Energy