This week our Cleantech Meetup was Spooky popular.  Hosted at The Workshop Sacramento incubator and co-working space near McKinley Park, the meetup filled the place with entrepreneurs, policy makers, scientists and Investors all there to hear about the state of current charging and Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) policy.  It was the best-attended MeetUp so far.

Guy Hall from the Electric Auto Association, a group that has been around for over 100 years kicked off the event by summarizing charging. Then CleanStart welcomed local business success story Clipper Creek. Will Barnett, Director of Sales shared their story of becoming a top charging hardware provider in the US and world. They have shipped over 75,000 charging systems and supplied the internals for another 500,000 convenience chargers for the major EV manufacturers.  They have now grown to 50 employees. They talked about all the different models of chargers they offer, including fast chargers. They clearly are specializing in the Level 2 systems, though, the ones that operate at 220v. Check out our blog from when we visited Clipper Creek this year. Throughout the first presentations we had lively discussion that almost turned into a panel discussion that included all 4 presenters,

Educating the audience on local actions around charging, Dwight MacCurdy of SMUD, discussed all the work SMUD has been doing around promoting the adoption of ZEVs by building EV charging infrastructure. Through rebates, charging locations, and education SMUD has a whole host of programs.

Dr. Elise Keddie introduced the hot topic of Volkswagen’s (VW) Cycle 2 ZEV investment plan as part of the settlement of the fraudulent emissions testing case. She also introduced Tony Gonzalez of Electrify America (a wholly-owned subsidiary through which VW is investing in charging).  With the work SMUD, other utilities, the CEC, CARB, and Electrify America are doing, Dr Keddie said California is leading the way in charging investment but has yet to reach half of what is needed to accommodate the growth of EVs.

This was a great meetup and if you missed out, don’t worry, we still have one left this year on November 27th.  And if you can’t wait till then Check out Green Drinks early November and our Calendar for other events!

Thomas Hall

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thomas is the Executive Director of CleanStart. Thomas has a strong background in supporting small businesses, leadership, financial management and is proficient in working with nonprofits. He has a BS in Finance and a BA in Economics from California State University, Chico. Thomas has a passion for sustainability and a commitment to supporting non-profits in the region.

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