General Motors announced on Monday that it has teamed with Electric Power Research Institute – an organization representing the nation’s utilities – to ready the U.S.’ electric infrastructure for the launch of plug-in hybrid vehicles.
The partnership will look at several issues, but will focus on infrastructure for public charging stations. “The issue is going to be how many consumers have plugs in the right places in their garage?,” GM’s manager of hydrogen and electrical infrastructure commercialization, Britta Gross, told Automotive News. “How many people don’t even have garages? We have to have a public charging infrastructure put in place and a strategy for that with corporations and municipalities.”
EPRI teamed with Ford on a similar initiative earlier this year, but Gross says GM has no current plans to team with other automakers on plug-in hybrid technology. GM hopes to be the first to market with a plug-in hybrid in the form of the 2010 Chevrolet Volt.
