By Michael E. C. Gery, September 2011

• Intro
• Electric cars in the mainstream
• From electric to gas and back to electric
• What’s it like to run an electric car?
• What about the electricity?
• Is there an electric vehicle in your future?
• For more information
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Intro

Imagine never again pulling into a gas station to refuel your car. Instead, when you reach your destination — at work, at home, at a shopping mall — you plug your car into an electric outlet to charge it.

“This is not the future. This is viable now,” said Jeff Barghout, director of transportation initiatives at Raleigh’s Advanced Energy. Previously instrumental in electric vehicle development at both DaimlerChrysler and General Motors, Barghout recently gave an update on plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) for North Carolina’s electric co-op representatives.

As PEVs continue to emerge in the U.S. market, not just drivers will be changing behavior. Electricity providers will as well. And so will anyone who manages municipalities, office buildings and commercial establishments. They all will become familiar with the logistics of powering electric vehicles.

A 2010 Touchstone Energy “Cooperative Difference” survey found that 10 percent of North Carolina electric cooperative members “definitely” would consider buying an electric vehicle, and 32 percent “probably” would. The findings are similar to interest nationwide among co-op members, according to the survey. “If 10 percent of North Carolina’s electric cooperative residential membership purchased an electric vehicle,” the survey report says, “cooperatives would need to supply electricity and recharging equipment to approximately 80,000 to 100,000 vehicles.”