As part of its commitment to support the growing use of electric-powered vehicles in Florida, FPL hosted the Electric Vehicle (EV) Stakeholder Summit in October in conjunction with the South Florida and Treasure Coast Regional Planning Councils, and Gold Coast Clean Cities Coalition. 

Communities will soon be able to take full advantage of energy-efficient electric vehicles with the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt available now, and almost every major car manufacturer planning to launch at least one EV model within the next year. Experts said that adoption of these and other EVs is expected to ramp up gradually in Florida over the next few years.

The EV Summit brought together community leaders, representatives from leading automakers, such as Nissan, Ford and General Motors, and industry experts to begin preparing for the vehicles’ arrival and their effect on local communities. This includes “fueling,” or charging, EVs; permitting and inspections of charging stations; providing affordable, reliable and clean electric service; charging at multi-family dwellings, fleet conversions and more.

“Planning for long-term energy growth is part of our core business and the introduction of electric vehicles is something we take into consideration,” said Brian Hanrahan, FPL’s Director of In-Home Technologies and Electric Vehicles. “We continue to evaluate the best approach to meet the emerging needs of this technology by studying the market and actively engaging with automotive manufacturers, local governments and other agencies.”