The Idaho National Laboratory co-sponsored a conference in Seattle just weeks ago titled, "Beyond Oil: The Sustainable Communities Initiative."
The focus of the conference was to discuss the future of electric vehicles and their related infrastructure. Those in attendance for the event included more than 300 individuals including at least 50 experts in the field. Discussions ranged from e-car technologies, to infrastructure challenges, to the nations dependency on foreign oil.
The all new fully electric Ford Focus made its official debut at the conference.
Conference goers discussed the use of a $100 million grant from the Department of Energy. The grant will be used to conduct a 3 year transportation study in 5 states in the Pacific Northwest region of North America as well as in British Columbia. The grant will be utilized to install the necessary electric vehicle infrastructure along the I-5 corridor.
The Idaho National Laboratory will become a strong partner to others who are already vested in the Pacific Northwest project. They have join eTec and Nissan to help provide charging solutions and conduct research during the 3 year project. The project will analyze data for more than 1,000 Nissan Leaf EVs used throughout the area.
For additional information about the Beyond Oil: The Sustainable Communities Initiative, please refer to the Idaho National Laboratories web site at the link listed below.
Source: INL.Gov
