无忧传媒

In Chief Technologist Rusty Heffner鈥檚 work, the Teslas, Chevy Bolts, and other electric vehicles (EV) he sees in Los Angeles traffic are more than just a way to get from point A to point B. He envisions campers using EVs to deliver light and heat to a remote site, neighbors plugging them into the side of a house during an electrical outage, and utility companies incorporating them into the grid as power sources themselves.

鈥淓Vs can be more than transportation. A car can be a huge mobile battery, so you can use that energy to do something at a destination as well,鈥� Rusty says.

Amid the many听urgent challenges of the climate crisis, Rusty鈥檚 work highlights the possibilities: how advances in transportation and energy technology offer hope. In conjunction with Earth Day, Rusty talks about his work in a field that鈥檚 transforming how we work, live, and safeguard our planet and resources for future.

Rusty鈥檚 career began in software development, specifically resource planning and supply chain management applications. Customers included leading automakers, and the more Rusty learned about the automotive sector, the more he was intrigued.听

It was a pivotal time in the industry. 鈥淎s I worked with the automakers, I got more interested in what was happening in the move to electric vehicles,鈥� he says.

Rusty followed this interest to the University of California, Davis and a Ph.D. in transportation technology. Hybrid vehicles were starting to emerge, and his studies included research funded by Toyota that explored both the technical and consumer aspects of these new products.

鈥淲e asked ourselves questions like, 'How do consumers react to an entirely new type of vehicle or fuel?鈥� and 鈥榃hat makes people take the leap to purchase a new technology and what holds them back?鈥欌�� Rusty recalls.

After his doctoral studies and research, the next step was 无忧传媒. Alongside the firm鈥檚 energy and transportation subject matter experts, he helped automakers, electric utility providers, and government clients ask the right questions about emerging technologies like electric vehicles. How quickly could they be adopted? What would they mean for the power grid and climate change? How quickly would the cost and performance of components such as batteries improve?

鈥淲e helped them think through various scenarios and prepare for the future,鈥� he says.听

Rusty has been with 无忧传媒 since 2008, working at the intersection of transportation and next-generation energy technologies. He has been helping federal government and commercial clients see where the technology is headed and what new possibilities may be unlocked.

For example, Rusty鈥檚 team has explored the human side of EV charging, probing what customers want in both chargers and the vehicle charging experience.

鈥淒rivers told us that this was going to be different than going to a gas station. They鈥檙e spending more time charging their vehicles and they鈥檙e concerned about safety, especially at remote locations at night,鈥� he says.

Rusty and his team have spent a lot of time considering the EV infrastructure. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just about having chargers at the right spots on a map, it鈥檚 about ensuring a consistent and frictionless interaction with the new infrastructure when drivers are there,鈥� he says.

As federal agencies deploy electric vehicle charging infrastructure, Rusty has encouraged them to think about future-proofing today鈥檚 infrastructure so it鈥檚 ready for tomorrow鈥檚 advanced technology. This includes asking whether an extensive network of EV fast chargers will always be needed along the nation鈥檚 highways.

鈥淟ithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles have progressed substantially since EVs first appeared on American roads in 2008,鈥� he pointed out in an . 鈥淭hese better, cheaper batteries make it easier to design electric cars and trucks that can store more energy on board, and therefore can drive longer distances.鈥�

In the article, Rusty described charging stations as 鈥渁n enabling technology with a limited useful life,鈥� similar to iTunes in music鈥檚 transition from single-song downloads to streaming. Once the capabilities of mobile devices matured, PC-based software infrastructure like iTunes was no longer needed to support them, Rusty wrote.

鈥淎s federal agencies expend funds for charging infrastructure, they should recognize that a successful deployment probably looks a lot like iTunes,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淚t should be affordable. The user experience should be great. And while users will highly value the service at first, its engineers should remember that it鈥檚 just an enabling technology that could quickly become redundant.鈥�

无忧传媒 is keenly focused on combating climate change impacts, and as the world continues to move toward EVs and reducing humanity鈥檚 carbon footprint, Rusty and his team are exploring what鈥檚 next with forward-thinking federal clients and a growing roster of commercial clients.

High-capacity EV batteries that make charging stations redundant are just the beginning. The scientists and engineers Rusty works with are also looking into new types of carbon-free fuels, novel engines, and propulsion systems for cars, trucks, and aircraft, as well as carbon dioxide removal technologies to increase pathways to sustainability, resilience, and safety.听

Another potential area of innovation: algorithms that help self-driving cars avoid the energy-wasting behaviors of human drivers, like racing ahead to a red stoplight only to have to hit the brakes, sit, and wait.

鈥淏asic automation technology is already available in many vehicles and getting more sophisticated. Its adoption is driven by safety and convenience, but can we also use it to optimize efficiency and decrease fuel use?鈥� Rusty ponders.

Rusty describes his team as 鈥渆xceptional scientists and engineers working at the center of the climate innovation space. They have a unique vantage point into what鈥檚 under development and what emerging technologies look promising,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a pretty unique skillset.鈥澨�