Electical Contractor

We’re now more than a year into the release of the first two major players in the electric vehicle (EV) market—Nissan’s all-electric Leaf and Chevy’s hybrid-electric Volt, and results so far are decidedly, well, undecided.

Just as every new technology thrives on its own promise, drawbacks and flaws in the initial design also hold back progress. For example, computers were once the size of a room. Calculators were initially too expensive for most people to own.

James Strange III, vice president of Louisville, Ky.-based Advanced Electrical Systems Inc., first began thinking about adding electric vehicle (EV) chargers to his company’s installation services at last year’s NECA Show.

The gradual emergence from the recession, as well as development of more efficient technology, is signaling what vendors predict will be a surge in commercial building automation.

To borrow a horse-racing metaphor, electric vehicles (EVs) have barely left the starting gate in their efforts to transform our transportation system, but forecasters predict a growing market for the charging equipment needed to keep them on the road.

It should come as no surprise that President Barack Obama wants the nation to do more to exploit the benefits of green power.