President Obama Visits So Cal Edison Electric Vehicle Research Center

"It's always nice to get out of Washington a little bit -- recharge your batteries," President Obama said Thursday. "You know a little bit about that here."

President Obama yesterday spent time at Southern California Edison's "garage of the future" -- its Electric Vehicle Technical Center in Pomona.  As reported in the Los Angeles Times, the President further unveiled details of the competitive $2.4 billion grants program to make plug-in electric vehicles more widely available.

At the facility he saw a few vehicles from major automakers in the test program. The Center also houses the utility's impressive fleet of mainly RAV4 EVs -- with over 17 million miles driven collectively.  While in sunny Southern California, the president also made a stop in Hollywood to appear on the Jay Leno show. Leno's vehicle collection is almost as famous as the host himself. Naturally the conversation turned to plug-in hybrid EVs!

Leno aside, Plug In America congratulations Ed Kjaer, SCE's director of electric transportation, and his team including Dean Taylor and Shannon Law, and all of the utility's EV experts.                                                                              photo courtesy of Southern California Edison

Plug In America on the EPA

Plug In America is continuing to expand its influence and reach in Washington D.C. You may have heard that other advocacy groups are working to help convince the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to grant California a waiver under the Clean Air Act for its clean car standards. Well we are planning something even bigger, so stay tuned for an action alert coming soon.

Plug In America Sponsors "Grid-Connected Mobility" conference

Grid-Connected Mobility, scheduled for May 27th -29th in San Francisco by, is intended to help accelerate the emerging "Smart Garage" industry. Investors, entrepreneurs, policy makers, car companies large and small, utilities, analysts and demand response aggregators will convene to map out and deploy the electric mobility industry of tomorrow. This event will provide unique insight into the best investments, and offer a robust setting for growing relationships and making deals. More details will be provided in the April newsletter - as well as at www.pluginamerica.org.

New Podcast: Inaugural Parade West, Part 3

Did Washington get the message from Plug In America's "Inaugural Parade West?" Alexandra Paul, electric car driver and Plug In America board member, answers this and other questions about history's greenest parade.

Meet Our Podcast Guru

Plug In America has an enviable collection of Podcasts produced by two invaluable volunteers - Kate Baker, our very own Podbroad, and Joseph Puentes, our Podcast Guru. In this newsletter we feature Joseph; next month we get to meet Kate.                                             Alexandra Paul working the parade

"I have stayed away from me being the focus of any of my work-the environmental issue should be the focus," says Joseph Puentes, the technical guru behind Plug In America's podcasts. He isn't comfortable being the center of attention, but we spotlight him this month because he is a man with a mission.

"I want to assist organizations in placing their important audio messages on the Internet," says Joseph, who expertly edits and uploads our podcasts. In 2004, Joseph decided to educate himself on environmental issues by listening to various interviews he downloaded from the Net. Whenever he was particularly moved by what he heard, he would contact the organization behind it and offer to help start regular podcasts for their websites.

"Many of the larger non-profits would say, 'Thank you, what a great idea, we'll get back to you,' but would never follow up."

In 2006, however, after Joseph heard Plug In America's Sherry Boschert interviewed, he contacted her and, as he says elatedly, "she followed up!"  Thus, thanks to Joseph, Plug In America's podcasts have grown more and more.

Joseph lives in the "one stop-light town" of Rosemount, North Carolina and works as a sales and distribution clerk for the United States Postal Service. A committed vegetarian (really a vegan, but for the occasional taste of honey), he hosts Water (H20) Podcast (http://h2opodcast.com), a podcast site chock full of information on the environment with a focus on factory farming's toll on water.  Volunteering for Plug In America was a natural step.

INTERACTIVE NEWS

Plug-in Lifestyle                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Joseph Puentes

Take a look at Board Member Sherry Boschert's "plug" for a solar-powered electric vehicle lifestyle, even in a foggy San Francisco neighborhood.  This PBS video is featured on the Planet Forward web site.  As a viewer, you can rate the video and show your support, but you need to register first. Thanks! 

EV Incentives in Your Home State? Let Us Know

If you are aware of any electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle incentives in your state, please let us know by emailing jay@pluginamerica.org. Plug In America is attempting to collect this information to be more effective in our legislative and grassroots efforts.

EV Q&A: Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Q: What's the difference between energy batteries and power batteries?
A: Batteries can be optimized to perform either as energy batteries or as power batteries. The former are used in Toyota RAV4 EVs and were used in GM's EV1s. The defining mechanism of the energy battery is how much total energy it can contain and deliver as the car's sole source of propulsion. The more kWh the battery contains, the more range it provides. Power batteries, on the other hand, are optimized to be able to quickly absorb charge (for regenerative braking) and quickly give it back (for acceleration). The Japanese refer to these as output-density batteries.

The power battery's constant charging and discharging ability is precisely why Toyota continues to believe so strongly in NiMH for its Prius and why the company isn't convinced that lithium is ready for HEV or PHEV use. Toyota knows that NiMH is up to the task, so they're sticking with a winner. Others argue that it's time to hand the ball to the eager new lithium kid on the block.

Stretching Your Donation

Does your company match your charitable contributions? Email us (info@pluginamerica.org) to discuss how your company policy can potentially increase your donation to Plug In America.