By Jesse Berst

The pilot program, set to begin early in 2013, will involve five previous plug-in vehicles driven by Duke Energy customers. It will be Toyota's primary North American test location for the very thing I have been advocating – a common standard for how EV charging stations should communicate with electric utilities. They will be testing a newly developed protocol from the Society of Automotive Engineers.

I very much doubt that Edward Mantey, a vice president at Toyota Technical Center, had seen my article before he issued his statement, but he certainly managed to read my mind. “Smart charging through two-way communication with utilities will not only be a benefit to the customers," he said, "but is crucial for the promotion of transportation electrification.”

Duke Energy associate project director Sue O'Leary is of the same mind. "Focus groups have shown consumers don't want to have to worry about determining the best times to charge their cars," she said. "They want to plug it in when they get home and not have to worry about it.”

Indiana is the second-largest automobile manufacturer in the U.S., producing some 880,000 vehicles annually for Toyota, Subaru, Honda and General Motors.

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Jesse Berst is the founder and chief analyst of Smart Grid News.com, the industry's oldest and largest smart grid site. A frequent keynoter at industry events in the U.S. and abroad, he also serves on advisory committees for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Institute for Electric Efficiency. He often provides strategic consulting to large corporations and venture-backed startups. He is a member of the advisory boards of GridGlo and Calico Energy Services.