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With electric cars set to hit the mass market next year, a skirmish is breaking out in California over who will control the states electric vehicle infrastructure.
The California Public Utilities Commission will write the rules of the electric road and is just starting to grapple with the complex regulatory issues surrounding the integration of battery-powered cars into the states electrical grid.
One of the biggest questions is whether to regulate Better Place, Coulomb Technologies and other companies that plan to sell electricity to drivers through a network of battery-charging stations.
Californias three big investor-owned utilities have split over the issue.
The commission should establish its authority to regulate third-party providers of electricity for electric vehicles, Christopher Warner, an attorney for Pacific Gas & Electric, wrote in a filing with the utilities commission. Managing the increased electricity consumption and load attributable to electric vehicles in order to avoid adverse impacts on the safety and reliability of the electric grid may be one of the most difficult management challenges that electric utilities will face.
Southern California Edison, meanwhile, urged the commission to move cautiously, calibrating any regulation to the specific business models of the companies.
San Diego Gas & Electric said the commission did not have the right to regulate companies like Better Place.
Not surprisingly, Better Place, based in Palo Alt, Calif., echoed that view, arguing that a heavy regulatory hand could stifle innovation and scare off investors. At the early stages of this industry, we encourage the commission to set rules that do not foreclose new business models, Jason Wolf, a Better Place executive, wrote in a filing with the commission.
A coalition of environmental groups that includes the Natural Resources Defense Council and Friends of the Earth wrote that the commission had authority over companies like Better Pace but should avoid stifling this emerging market with inapplicable or burdensome requirements.
The utilities commission does not regulate municipal-owned utilities, which will set their own rules for private electric car-charging networks.
One of Californias biggest public utilities, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, has asserted that it has exclusive jurisdiction over third-party electric vehicle service providers within its service territory and that there is no commercial space for companies like Better Place to sell electricity at retail rates.
Better Place and other electric car start-ups will also have to do battle with long-entrenched consumer advocacy groups that are often at odds with utilities and the commission.
The Utility Reform Network, for instance, has pushed the commission to go slow, allowing only the installation of 110-volt charging stations, rather than higher-voltage equipment that would charge electric car batteries much more quickly.