I had a great time at the Peak Load Management Alliance (@PLMAdr) EV Symposium in Chicago last week. It's always invigorating spending entire days doing nothing but learning, and there was a whole lot to learn.
A few key takeaways for #utilities:
1.) There's a ton of momentum behind EV adoption, but we're still so, so early in the adoption curve. Efforts to take full advantage of the grid benefits are even more nascent, and each program has been almost entirely bespoke with a different mix of partners, devices, brands, and incentives.
2.) Infrastructure is nowhere near where it needs to be -- we heard story after story about how a few EV purchases on a neighborhood block (or even just one) can overload a transformer and lead to thousands in repair or upgrade costs. So long as grid upgrades lag behind consumer adoption, utilities should give grid detection solutions some serious thought.
3.) It's tempting to think about device types in silos, especially from a CX perspective (you buy a Ford, so you like the idea of managing charging through Ford). But how does this shift as households incorporate more smart devices? What's the ideal CX for managing not just your EV, but your thermostat, your water heater, and a battery? My colleagues at Emulate have done great work quantifying the benefit of taking a holistic, whole-home approach to this, and I'm curious to see how utilities approach this.
Thank you again to all the excellent presenters -- it's so encouraging to see folks from across the industry swapping stories (even with competitors) in the interest of advancing such a crucial mission. Looking forward to many more events like these.
