UCC Presents at Solar Power International Conference
Utah Clean Cities was thrilled to present at the Solar Power International (SPI) conference EV 101 last month in Salt Lake City. The presentation, which was lead by UCC Executive Director Tammie Bostick as a part of the EV 101 workshop, covered everything from renewable natural gas to electric vehicle availability, workplace charging stations, and more.
To begin the workshop Caroline Quazzo from EZ-EV asked the audience an important question: “Why are we talking about electric vehicles at a solar conference?” The answer lies in the consumer, she explained. “Consumers that are interested in one are often interested in the other.”
Utah Clean Cities Presents
Following Quazzo’s introduction Utah Clean Cities ED Tammie Bostick gave a presentation on the importance of transitioning our local communities and states to electric vehicles, and the opportunities that exist to adopt EVs into our daily lives. Looking at Utah’s issue of air quality as an example, Bostick explained the role of transportation in correlation to the issue, pointing out that 50% of Utah’s air pollution comes from transportation and 50% of that comes from fleets. Bostick highlighted the increase in EV innovative technology as a solution, including high performance electric trucks (fleets) SUVs, and more. She discussed ways EV technology is being integrated in Utah’s economy, as well as other parts of the country, to show that EVs play a critical role in saving Utahns money while improving air quality for our state, and for our country.
Workshop Highlights
Following Bostick’s presentation workshop attendees heard from Jarod C. Kelly, Vehicle Systems Analyst engineer at Argonne National Lab, about the electric vehicle life cycle. They also heard from Francesca Wahl, Business Development and Policy at Tesla, who spoke on local government and implementing EV charging infrastructure, streamlining political processes, and more.
Other highlights included a presentation from Brian Zelis from Nissan about bi-directional power, EV equity (accessibility to home charging stations for all EV drivers), reliability in EV charging, and workplace charging stations. Brian also broke down the costs of driving an electric vehicle and spoke about sub cities (which vary from state to state) to give the audience an idea of the cost benefit of purchasing an EV.
Increasing EV Education
The second half of the workshop focused on how to bridge the education gap around EV’s and the impacts that contribute to consumer willingness to drive an EV. The first speaker, Laura Roberson, Ph.D. student in the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering at the George Washington University, presented on some of the common misconceptions around EVs. Her research showed that without EV driving experience consumers were subject to common EV misconceptions such as disinformation around vehicle cost and functionality. Some of the common consumer misconceptions discussed included the cost savings of driving an EV, and the range of EVs on a single full electric charge.
Educational Resources
The next presentation was lead by Joann Zhou, Group Leader in Mobility and EV Charging Infrastructure at ABB, who spoke about ABB EV infrastructure and fuel costs savings per gallon relative to gasoline. This presentation built on EV education to consumers and outlined resources ABB offers to increase awareness about the benefits of driving an EV. Through ABB’s website, consumers can calculate EV fuel costs/ benefits as well as market status. They can also receive information regarding charging station availability, state and local government financial rewards for EVs, and cumulative total cost of ownership per year to GHG emissions. In addition, ABB’s website includes educational resources such as links to key concepts including conventional gasoline vehicles, electric vehicle supplies, and more.
Summary & Next Steps
In total, The EV 101 Workshop ran for about five hours and gave attendees the opportunity to learn about EVs in an informative and in-depth way. Attendees left with an increased understanding about the importance of driving an EV as it pertains to air quality, and the market status/ cost benefits of purchasing an EV.
Utah Clean Cities is incredibly honored to be included in this important initiative to increase EV awareness, and sends our thanks to SPI and EZ EV for including us in this workshop.
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