一个国家如何让电动车成为主流？

    随着风能和太阳能发电比例的加大，让电网负担弹性化的价值还会变得更大。电动汽车可以在太阳能和风能发电的高峰时期充电，以避免这些宝贵的电力资源被浪费。在不远的将来，随着“还电入网”技术的成熟（Vehicle-to-Grid，即在用电高峰时通过逆变技术向电网回馈能量），电动汽车的价值还会进一步提高。

    在充电站网络的建设上，美国加州走在了前列。当地最大的三家电力公司：太平洋电气、南加州爱迪生和圣地亚哥电气正计划投资11亿美元建设约6万个公共充电桩。相比之下，根据2009年的《美国复苏与再投资法案》，联邦政府只调拨了约4亿美元用于建设公用充电站。美国的其他电力公司也在纷纷建设汽车充电站，如南方电力和堪萨斯市电力照明公司等。

    至于电力公司是否应该自己拥有和运营电动汽车充电站，目前仍有一定争议。不过包括充电公司、电力公司、汽车厂商和非政府组织在内的许多利益相关方都普遍认为，电力公司应该扩大在公共充电基础设施领域的投资，这一点从加州公共事业委员会最近的一项决议中便可看出。通过与充电公司和汽车厂商的合作，电力公司有机会使他们的投资得到最有效的利用。

    未来的低碳经济主要依靠用无碳能源来取代煤炭、石油和天然气。用可再生电力给电动汽车充电，则是大大减少碳排放污染的重要战略。电力公司携手充电公司、汽车厂商和可再生能源供应商投资公共充电设施，为加速实现这一愿景提供了一个难得的双赢机会。更广泛地说，在整个基础设施（包括软件、其它需要集成电动汽车的系统建设、存储、间歇性可再生能源的客户需求解决方案）投资的过程中，电力公司都扮演了不可替代的角色。这些协作型商业模式为解决气候变化挑战带来了巨大希望，同时也将促进创新，并提高电网利用率。（财富中文网）

    本文作者南希·普方德是旧金山风投机构DBL Partners的创始人兼任事股东。DBL控股的企业包括特斯拉的早期投资方SolarCity公司，她本人也是SolarCity的董事会成员之一。

    译者：朴成奎

    审校：任文科

    The value of having a flexible load on the grid will grow even further with higher amounts of wind and solar. Electric vehicles can be programmed to charge during peak solar or wind generation periods, preventing this valuable electricity from being wasted. In the future, electric vehicles could increase their value by putting electricity back into the grid as well (commonly known as “Vehicle-to-Grid” or V2G).

    California is leading the way. The three largest utilities – Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric – are seeking to invest $1.1 billion in infrastructure deployment to support 60,000 publicly available charging ports. In comparison, the federal government as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 stimulus packageappropriated about $400 million for the nation to help install infrastructure stations. Other utilities across the country are also moving forward with installing charging stations, including Southern Company and Kansas City Power and Light.

    While there is legitimate debate as to whether utilities should go as far as owning and operating recharge stations, there is broad agreement among stakeholders — including charging companies, utilities, automakers, and NGOs — that utilities should expand their investments in publicly available infrastructure, as evidenced by a recent decision at the California Public Utilities Commission. By partnering with charging companies and automakers, utility companies have the opportunity to make the most effective use of their investments.

    The future low carbon economy will critically depend on replacing coal, oil and natural gas with zero carbon energy. Charging electric vehicles on renewable electricity is a key strategy for achieving deep reductions in carbon pollution. Utility investments in charging infrastructure, partnered with charging companies EV manufacturers and renewable energy providers, offer a rare win-win-win opportunity to accelerate this vision. More broadly, the utilities have a critical role to play through the infrastructure investment, including software and other systems needed to integrate EVs, storage, and customer demand solutions with intermittent renewable energy production . Together, these new collaborative business models offer tremendous promise to address climate change while driving innovation and better grid utilization.

    Nancy E. Pfund is founder and managing partner of DBL Partners, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm. DBL owns SolarCity, which was an early investor of Tesla. Pfund sits on the board of directors of SolarCity.