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More than 2.7 million plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) will be plugged into the global electric grid by 2015 — and they'll make a mess of things if grid managers aren't ready for them, according to reports from IDC Insights. One report, Business Strategy: The Coming Electric Vehicle Rollout - Forecasting the Market, suggests the extent and timing of the PEV rollout throughout the world between 2011 and 2015, and also gives an overview of models coming soon. But the report that should rattle the cages of utilities and grid managers is The Coming Electric Vehicle Rollout Part 2: Challenges and Opportunities for Electric Utilities. It spells out what utilities should be doing now to avoid disaster later: significant |  |
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upgrades in distribution equipment (like a separate metering system and advanced transformers to handle the added demand) and some innovative rate structures so the utilities have the say so over when and how the PEVs are charged. IDC says 885,000 PEVs will be on U.S. roads by 2015. A separate report from Pike Research forecasts EV-related information technology spending to hit $5.1 billion in the same time period and echoed the challenges identified by the IDC studies.
Quick Take: Utilities are working on the challenges and smoothing out the wrinkles ahead of commercial-scale EV deployment, but are they doing enough? Take the Quick Poll and let us know what you think.
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