Where to Plug In
Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) Challenges
Location: South Bay Room
Time: 10:15am – 11:15am
Panel Description:
This EV Infrastructure Panel is designed to explore the market trends, opportunities, risks, challenges, and new products in both EV charging and EVs themselves. What are the growth areas and regions for EV charging? What are the different types of charging products to meet consumer needs? How are range issues addressed? How is federal or California policy affecting the EV charging industry? Similarly from the EV manufacturers perspective, how are they working in parallel with EV charging industry, how are they seeing trends, growth opportunities and risks? Are the goals and policies mutually aligned for both sides?
Moderator:
Juan Matute, Director, UCLA Luskin Center Climate Change Initiative
Juan Matute studies a number of areas relating to the future of urban mobility, including sustainable transportation and land use, transit, SB 375 implementation, electric vehicles, and local government climate planning. Juan is currently working with Caltrans to develop a Statewide Transit Strategic Plan and on a project funded by the California Energy Commission to introduce life-cycle assessment of energy and emissions into transportation decision-making. In the past, Juan served as co-chair of ICLEI’s Transportation Technical Advisory Committee for its Community-scale GHG Inventory Guidance and on a technical advisory panel and technical working groups for the Southern California Association of Government’s Climate & Economic Development Project. With an MBA and Masters in Urban Planning from UCLA, Juan brings an interdisciplinary market-oriented perspective to land use and transportation policy.
Panelist
Jordan Ramer, CEO, EVConnect
An accomplished technology executive and entrepreneur, Mr. Ramer has helped raise tens of millions of dollars in financing for growth companies in the cleantech sector. Before joining EVConnect, Mr. Ramer led corporate development for NanoH2O, a venture-backed developer of energy efficient water purification technology. Previously, he held executive positions in business development, product management and marketing at AeroVironment, an electric vehicle infrastructure developer, where he spent seven years elevating the company into the industry leader, spearheading the company’s international expansion and launching its fleet management software solution. Earlier in his career, Mr. Ramer held roles in business development, finance and strategy for several venture-backed technology start-ups, as well as Arthur Andersen. He holds a Masters of Business Administration from UCLA Anderson and graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Skidmore College.
Panelist
Alex Keros, Senior Project Engineer, General Motors
Alex Keros is a Senior Project Engineer for General Motors working on the development of alternative fuel infrastructure solutions. In this role he is responsible for hydrogen and electric infrastructure planning and implementation for GM’s Project Driveway and the launch of the Chevrolet Volt.
Alex has extensive background in the nascent hydrogen infrastructure industry. He has led the design, permitting, installation and operation of hydrogen stations in multiple regions, including California. He leads technical review and approval of all hydrogen fueling equipment and has experience and working relationships with every major hydrogen equipment provider.
Alex also works closely with Plug-in Electric Vehicle industry stakeholders, including the electrical utilities, to streamline the home charging installation process that is key to customer satisfaction and broad acceptance of plug-in vehicles. Alex is actively engaged in multiple electric vehicle forums and working groups, including co-chairing the PEV Collaborative Infrastructure Working Group.
Alex began his career in environmental consulting, managing the assessment and remediation of hazardous waste sites and has extensive experience in environmental policy design and implementation. Alex earned a B.S. in Natural Resource Management and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Panelist
Aaron Platshon, Co-founder, Wheelz
Aaron Platshon is co-founder and head of marketing and communications at Wheelz, a peer-to-peer car sharing company. Prior to Wheelz, he did product stategy at Better Place, an EV infrastructure company. His first foray into the electric vehicle space was as the first non-engineering hire at Tesla Motors working on sales, marketing and service initially in the US for the Roadster launch and later led the company’s expansion into Europe. Aaron is a car lover, specifically 60s-early 70s european sports cars and, now, EVs! Aaron graduated with degrees in Economics and Philosophy from Bucknell University.
Panelist
Wahid Nawabi, Senior Vice President, AeroVironment
Wahid Nawabi is senior vice president and general manager of Efficient Energy Systems (EES) at AeroVironment. With 20 years’ experience in advanced technology in diverse industries such as fuel cells, clean tech, industrial manufacturing, and energy management, Wahid is responsible for architecting the roadmap of AeroVironment’s Electric Vehicle “ecosystem” solutions offering. As a former segment manager at American Power Conversion (a division of Schneider Electric), Wahid played a key role in revenue growth of $50 million to more than $2.4 billion, helping to establish the company as a world leader in power protection. Wahid sees similar potential in the electric vehicle industry and is committed to enabling the mass adoption of EVs and the advancement of the clean transportation movement.
