Even the locally famous bear is excited about EV + PV, which is getting plenty of attention at the World Renewable Enegy Forum at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colo.

Solar-charged driving might not be taking off as quickly as I’d hoped back when I started SolarChargedDriving.Com nearly three years ago.

But there’s plenty of evidence that EV and solar PV are coming together in the U.S. and that more and more solar folks are getting fired up about EVs and more and more EV folks are getting fired up about solar.

I saw, and experienced, some of the significant enthusiasm for EVs in the solar world today at the American Solar Energy Society’s (ASES) World Renewable Energy Forum here in Denver, Colo., where I attended one panel on EV + PV and led another panel on solar-charged driving later in the day.

Each session on EV + PV attracted about 60 WREF conference goers. That was enough to come close to filling the rooms in which the sessions were held at the Colorado Convention Center.

Each EV + PV session generated plenty of questions and discussion after each panel had presented, providing strong evidence of the enthusiasm for the solar plus electric vehicle equation. Of course, based on the focus of many of the questions at our afternoon WREF panel, entitled ‘Solar-charged vehicles: The future of driving’, it would seem that EV might hold the edge over PV in terms of which one is playing the most important role in driving excitement about solar-charged driving.

EVs driving solar PV growth
In fact, as long-time EV advocate Paul Scott notes in a quote I used in my PowerPoint presentation (you can watch the PP presentation below on Slideshare.Net) it’s fairly clear that EVs are generally going to end up pushing a lot of growth in home solar while solar growth seems comparatively less likely to lead to EV growth.

More on EVs in my next entry about WREF: I’ll be attending ‘Electric Avenue’ on Wednesday (May 16). Electric Avenue is a promotional event sponsored by the Colorado Renewable Energy Society.

Although not officially part of the World Renewable Energy Forum, Electric Avenue will be held directly across the street from the Colorado Convention Center, where the WREF is taking place this week. In fact, Electric Avenue will be in the very same parking lot I had the pleasure of starting and ending my first, and only, test drive of a Chevy Volt more than a year ago at the 2011 Denver Auto Show.

Check back for pictures, and perhaps even a short video on the CRES ‘Electric Avenue’ event soon.

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