I do feel utilities should jump all over it. According to a McKinsey report the total energy consumption in the US is potentially going to increase by 9.4% from 2008 to 2020, but there is a potential to reduce it by 26% through energy efficiency. That’s a reduction of around 18 quads in energy consumption. In addition to this, according to Edison Electric Institute by 2017, 33% of the US retail electric market will have access to cheaper solar energy. That is a big potential loss of revenue for the utility companies. While that is good for the consumers and the environment, what about the shareholders of the utility companies? I believe they are not going to like it. While this problem is not solved with electric vehicles alone, there is still a potential. Just doing a rough calculation: 250 million vehicles in the US, if they are converted to EVs that give 3 miles per kWh, 15,000 miles a year, roughly comes to around 4 quads of electricity consumption.

There are a few technological changes that I would like to watch out for in the coming years. A lot of work is going on around battery technologies, making them lighter, hold more charge per weight and also charge quicker. Graphene supercapacitors have had a promising start in that respect. According to this video from Dr. Kaner from UCLA, an electric vehicle that uses graphene batteries could potentially charge in a minute. That’s of course a few years from now, when this technology becomes commercially available. Another less daunting technical challenge to overcome would be for the EV manufacturers to agree on an information protocol. EVs and other vehicles are becoming an important part of the overall ‘internet of things’. This protocol will help entrepreneurs solve various problems like the communication between EVs and charging stations.

If I were the utility company, I would have to do a few things to market this new source of revenue for me. First, I would like to create rate plans specifically for electric vehicles so that I can allocate costs adequately and also provide incentives for consumers not to charge during peak hours. I would work with the EV companies to be able to identify when an EV is charging. This is where the protocol would come in handy. I would then target real estate owners to set up charging stations at adequate locations. My first target would be all the commercial parking lots, where cars are normally parked for many hours at a stretch. Retail parking lots would probably not be the first locations I would pick. My charging stations would have the ability to identify the vehicle and the corresponding customer. The customer would still have to swipe a card or enter a PIN for authentication. The customer can either buy the electricity using spot prices, or could charge it to their utility account, assuming they have a better rate in that account. I would allow cars from other utilities to charge as well. I would just charge a nominal surcharge like the way ATM transactions from different banks work. Oh, by the way, if someone tries to charge a stolen vehicle, my charging stations would disable the vehicle and alert the authorities. And lastly, I will conduct marketing campaigns along with the car companies. This would not only improve the sales of the EVs thereby increasing my revenue stream, it would also help improve the battered (and fact-based) image that utility has, of being, environmentally unfriendly.