PG&E, BMW expand managed charging partnership to focus on V2X technologies

Pacific Gas and Electric wants to use electric vehicles in virtual power plants to help meet peak demand using only renewable energy.

By Robert Walton • May 24, 2023

Energy Department cancels $200M Microvast battery grant

Republican lawmakers accused the Houston-area battery maker of having ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

By Sara Samora • May 24, 2023

Explore the Trendline➔

Top 5 Stories from Utility Dive

Power demand is rising amid dramatic shifts in federal energy policy, but technology and markets continue to push the grid toward cleaner, more distributed resources. 

By Utility Dive staff

DOE funds $87M of EV projects from GM, Deere, others; details additional $99.5M opportunity

The largest award went to General Motors: $7.5 million to develop a new kind of multilevel inverter integrated electric drive system.

By Robert Walton • May 23, 2023

California truck emissions rules appear poised to spread across North America

EV truck makers Hyliion and Lion Electric believe many states will adopt similar regulations to those drawing industry concerns.

By David Taube • May 19, 2023

AlphaStruxure partners with Maryland county on first East Coast bus depot to produce green hydrogen

Construction on the depot, which will serve a fleet of 200 hydrogen buses through an electrolyzer, is scheduled to conclude by the end of 2025.

By Patrick Cooley • May 18, 2023

NREL energy audit tool may help cities meet climate, building decarbonization goals

Local governments often lack the staff and resources to conduct energy audits on thousands of buildings, an engineer at the National Renewable Energy Lab said, but technology can help overcome those challenges.

By Joe Burns • May 17, 2023

Biogas groups, lawmakers jockey for changes as EPA nears final rule to bring EVs into biofuel RIN market

Republicans expressed skepticism in an April 25 letter to EPA about the agency’s authority to create a new branch of the Renewable Fuel Standard related to electricity markets rather than traditional fuels.

By Jacob Wallace • May 12, 2023

Hawai’i leads the way on advanced rate design with default time-of-use rates, fixed charge innovations

Hawai’i’s planned granular cost study still must prove to other states that the new TOU rates, fixed charge framework and new way of defining costs will allocate costs accurately, analysts said.

By Herman K. Trabish • May 9, 2023

US, South Korea sign EV battery deal

Last week, GM and South Korea-based battery manufacturer Samsung SDI jointly announced partnering to build a $3 billion U.S. battery production plant.

By Sara Samora • May 4, 2023

Affordable, all-electric and energy-efficient housing gets $15M boost from NYC initiative

The initiative “will demonstrate to the affordable housing market a highly replicable new construction solution,” said Doreen Harris, president and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

By Ysabelle Kempe • May 3, 2023

EnergyHub, Synop partner to expand revenue opportunities for commercial EV fleets

The partnership will offer utilities a “full, vertically integrated solution” to manage load associated with electric vehicle chargers, said Mark Braby, chief commercial officer at Synop.

By Robert Walton • May 3, 2023

Edison International CEO Pizarro backs Western RTO, highlights SCE efforts to prep grid for heavy duty EVs

“We are seeing customers really start to embrace and adopt EVs today, including operators of medium- and heavy-duty vehicle fleets,” Pedro Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, said during an earnings call.

By Kavya Balaraman • May 3, 2023

Why EV operations minutiae, not big strategic announcements, will decide the success of the EV transition

The “announce first, solve barriers later” mindset so predominant in the vehicle electrification industry today is a drag on progress.

By Matt Lichtash • May 2, 2023

First state law banning gas in new buildings likely to pass in New York

Environmental and social justice advocates worry it will include a “poison pill” provision backed by the oil and gas industry.

By Ysabelle Kempe • May 1, 2023

After Ninth Circuit tosses Berkeley gas ban for new buildings, climate-focused cities examine their options

Other “totally lawful opportunities” exist for local governments to phase out gas in new buildings, such as through building codes, said a senior fellow at Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.

By Ysabelle Kempe • April 28, 2023

Hyundai, SK On plan $5B Georgia EV battery plant

The venture will supply batteries to power Hyundai, Kia and Genesis EVs by the second half of 2025.

By Megan Ruggles • April 27, 2023

Tesla says lack of lithium refining capacity will become EV production ‘choke point’

The EV maker is expanding its lithium production in the U.S. and calling on other companies to do so, too.

By Kate Magill • April 26, 2023

Avoiding the potential ramifications of modern rate structures

How to get modern rates done right to ensure successful implementations.

April 24, 2023

Italian energy company Enel to reportedly bring 10,000 EV chargers to North America

Enel X Way would join big players like Tesla and Walmart, along with convenience store chains like Pilot, in the increasingly busy electric vehicle space.

By Jessica Loder • April 20, 2023

Covering infrastructure costs to support commercial EV charging is worth it for utilities and ratepayers

If utilities pay up front for all of the customer- and utility-side make-ready investments needed to electrify fleets in their service territory, the resulting revenues will outweigh the investment cost at no additional cost to ratepayers.

By Pamela MacDougall • April 20, 2023

New York’s plan for transforming its electricity generation will reduce reliability at extreme cost

Permitting and grid interconnection delays mean it's highly unlikely that enough new generation will be added to meet the state’s goal of having 100% zero-emission electricity production by 2040.

By Arnold Wallenstein • April 19, 2023

EPRI launches 3-year initiative to address grid constraints, develop tools to serve coming EV loads

EVs2Scale2030 will develop a timeline of anticipated electric vehicle charging loads, down to the distribution circuit level, said EPRI Director of Transportation Britta Gross.

By Robert Walton • April 19, 2023

With looming EV load spikes, PG&E, Duke, other utilities adopt new rate design and cost recovery strategies

New dynamic time-varying rates and demand charge adjustments from California to the Carolinas could align customer usage with utility costs to make EVs a system benefit, rate design experts said

By Herman K. Trabish • April 18, 2023

Booming EV sales amp up the pressure on cities and companies to meet charging demand

“This is a wake-up call,” an executive at an energy management company said. “The transformation required to enable widespread vehicle electrification will be a massive challenge.”

By Dan Zukowski • April 13, 2023

‘Grid-friendly’ standards for EV supply equipment could help ensure power system reliability: NERC

The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects electricity consumption by the transportation sector will increase from 12 billion kWh in 2021 to more than 145 billion kWh in 2050.

By Robert Walton • April 12, 2023