The Association of Energy Services Professionals (AESP), a non-profit organization made up of nearly 5,000 active energy professionals dedicated to improving the development, delivery and implementation of efficiency, clean energy and demand flexibility solutions, with support from LeBlanc Energy Innovation, has debuted the Electric Vehicle Driver Experience Initiative (EVDX).
EVDX’s mission is to ensure that consumers and businesses experience an efficient EV adoption and charging experience. Its work focuses on the EV journey, from early discovery to purchasing, charging and enrolling in utility programs to minimize fuel costs and support a modern grid.
“Electric vehicle adoption, at its core, is a significant behavior change away from the existing solution, the gas vehicle, that has been serving people effectively since the day they were born,” says Bill LeBlanc, president of LeBlanc Energy Innovation and chief catalyst at Rolling Energy Resources. “Today, the EV driver experience is full of potholes, such as confusing rebates and non-working chargers, and key knowledge barriers and misconceptions are rampant. Installing thousands of public chargers will do no good unless consumers know how it all works.”
The EVDX Initiative will use advanced educational, behavioral and marketing approaches through industry partners to help move the market from early adopters to mainstream customers who are often averse to risk and don’t understand EV fundamentals (such as how to charge an EV).
As a first step, EVDX will assemble an executive committee to steer EVDX’s growth and draw from non-profits, utilities, governments and EV businesses to obtain knowledge for the initiative.