Dive Summary:
- Three experts at SAP write the emergence of electric cars is ultimately a positive development that will also present as many challenges as it solves.
- While the U.S. government incentivizes the use of electric vehicles, potential problems include the possibility of being deserted when your car battery runs out, grid overload and blackouts from charging cars, the need for excess energy storage and adding charging stations to the grid.
- Potential solutions include utilities partnering with car rental companies, partnering with technlogy companies that install and maintain charging stations, accruing advertising revenue from charging stations and partnering with retailers to install charging station in a store's parking lot.
From the article:
"We worry about electric cars the way Woody Allen worries about death. Nearly everything seems like a threat: their expensive batteries, excessive weight, and, scariest of all, their potential to leave us stranded somewhere we don’t want to be.
But let’s not leave all the anxiety to electric car owners. The rest of us need to start worrying about what will happen if enough people buy these things and try to charge them at the same time: The blackouts will start rolling faster than a Tesla at the race track. ..."