Pacific Gas and Electric, which provides electric power to 5.1 million California households and businesses, is investing billions of dollars in infrastructure for plug-in hybrid cars. PG&E has developed the technology to distribute 10 million so-called “smart meters” to customers, with the aim of encouraging them to recharge their cars during off-peak hours at lower rates and with less strain on the electric grid. Officials at PG&E are working on technology that would allow cars to communicate automatically with the grid to determine the most cost-effective time to charge. The advent of plug-in technology is one of several important factors — including the need to accommodate electricity generated by solar and wind power — driving the need to restructure and rebuild the U.S. electric grid.
California Utility Prepares for Widespread Use of Plug-In Cars
More From E360
-
Cities
‘Sponge City’: How Copenhagen Is Adapting to a Wetter Future
-
INTERVIEW
On Controlling Fire, New Lessons from a Deep Indigenous Past
-
Solutions
Paying the People: Liberia’s Novel Plan to Save Its Forests
-
OPINION
Forest Service Plan Threatens the Heart of an Alaskan Wilderness
-
INTERVIEW
Pakistan’s Solar Revolution Is Bringing Power to the People
-
Food & Agriculture
In Uganda, Deadly Landslides Force an Agricultural Reckoning
-
Energy
Why U.S. Geothermal May Advance, Despite Political Headwinds
-
Food & Agriculture
In War Zones, a Race to Save Key Seeds Needed to Feed the World
-
Climate
Lightning Strikes the Arctic: What Will It Mean for the Far North?
-
RIVERS
A Win for Farmers and Tribes Brings New Hope to the Klamath
-
Solutions
Deconstructing Buildings: The Quest for New Life for Old Wood
-
NATURAL DEFENSES
How Restored Wetlands Can Protect Europe from Russian Invasion