Electric Vehicles to Take Center Stage at IEEE-USA Workshop in Austin

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The new Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf will be featured attractions at the IEEE-USA Electric Vehicles & Personal Transportation Workshop on Friday 4 March at the Renaissance Austin (Texas) Hotel.

The event will explore the challenges and opportunities of electric vehicle transportation and feature eight panels of more than 20 technology, industry, academic and policy experts.

Craig Eppling, a regional communications manager for General Motors, will discuss the Volt on the electric vehicle market panel. He will be joined by Mark Perry, director of product planning for Nissan America; and Rob Ferber, chief technology officer for KLD Energy Technologies. Ferber is a former science director at Tesla Motors and was responsible for Tesla's early drive train integration of motor, controller and battery systems.

The Volt, which uses electricity at all times to run the vehicle, has an all-electric range of 35 to 40 miles. After that, an onboard gasoline-powered generator recharges the lithium-ion battery to extend your driving range another approximately 340 miles. The Leaf is 100 percent electric and uses no gasoline. It has a driving range of about 100 miles when fully charged and has to be recharged to drive further. Both cars are plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) and use regenerative braking.

Other workshop focus areas include charging infrastructure; PEVs and the electricity business; customer acceptance; managing PEV loads; electric vehicle policy issues; PEVs and the electric grid; and personal electric transportation.

In addition to the Volt and Leaf, personal transportation devices such as electric scooters and bicycles are also scheduled to appear.

The cost for the workshop, which includes a buffet breakfast, lunch, coffee breaks and a post-event reception, is $175 for IEEE members and $200 for nonmembers. It will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information and to register, see http://www.ieeeusa.org/calendar/workshops/EVPT/default.asp.

Exhibit and sponsorship opportunities are available by contacting Colonel Mason at [email protected] or 214-329-4949. You can follow previews of the workshop on the ScienceNews Radio Network (http://www.promiseoftomorrow.biz/).

IEEE-USA advances the public good and promotes the careers and public policy interests of more than 210,000 engineering, computing and technology professionals who are U.S. members of IEEE. http://www.ieeeusa.org

SOURCE IEEE-USA (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)