Duke Energy Corp. and the nation's largest car company are teaming up to smooth the way for a future of electric vehicles. That future requires a revamped power system that can integrate a new breed of cars drawing massive amounts of electricity from the grid. General Motors Corp. said the partnership, which also includes the Electric Vehicle Research Institute and other large utilities such as Southern California Edison, will deal with myriad complicated issues from tax incentives to where and when the cars can be recharged. GM is working to bring the Chevrolet Volt rechargeable car to showrooms in late 2010. It's being designed to run on an electric motor powered by lithium-ion batteries. When fully charged, the car will be able to travel 40 miles on battery power. For longer trips, a small internal combustion engine will recharge the batteries to keep the Volt moving. “This vehicle is real. It's coming into production,” said Britta Gross, a GM engineer. “We know that when the vehicle is in the showroom and ready for sale, it's got to work seamlessly with the infrastructure.” Duke has been working on a new “smart grid” in Charlotte for several years with future widespread production of electric cars in mind. The Charlotte-based utility has been installing two-way data communication devices on its power lines and new smart meters on selected Charlotte homes to research how it could work. It has retrofitted several Toyota Prius hy ...
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