Commentary

Electric vehicles use electricity wholly or partly for traction - making them go along. That encompasses an increasingly large variety of modes of travel by land, sea and air. Add to that fresh water. Electric vehicle manufacturers and those supplying their components vary from ones that are so large, well funded and ambitious that they go for the biggest opportunity, which is hybrid cars for the next decade.

Demand Response (DR) is already a clear cut winner in category of "killer apps" in the evolving Smart Grid. A key area of opportunity moving forward, and which may help provide a more comprehensive valuation of DR programs, may thus be to give deeper consideration as to DR's impact upon the utility's relationship with its customers.

The problem is not in product design, but in its daily operations, is where the challenge is presented. Utilities and Consumers will have to find different paths, but both convergent and this will not be easy, alone, technology may not be able to establish or even bring the expected benefits.

During the dark days of early 2009, one of the brightest spots anywhere on the economic horizon was the smart grid, and more specifically, the anticipated full-speed-ahead, full-scale deployment of smart meters. The expected benefits were well-understood and significant: instant meter reads, quick bill settlements, and improved visibility into local outages.