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California to invest $100 mil in electric car charging stations

By Jeff Siegel, Energy & Capital

It all went down on June 14, 2000.

California suffered its largest planned blackout since World War II.

Two months later, Governor Gray Davis called for an investigation into possible price manipulation in the wholesale electricity marketplace.

That’s when Dynegy Inc. was officially accused of price manipulation and other fraudulent practices.

Fast-forward to 2012, a $120 million settlement is finally announced.

And what will the state do with that money?

Something that’s going to help make us a boatload of cash!

Going to California

Twenty million dollars from this settlement will go to fund the reduction of consumer energy bills. That part doesn’t concern us unless, of course, you live in the Golden State.

The other $100 million?

Well, this is where it gets good.

Governor Jerry Brown announced last week the state will use the remaining $100 million to install 200 public fast-charging stations for electric vehicles, as well as 10,000 plug-in units at 1,000 different locations across the Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

There are three ways we can profit from this.

The first is the most obvious: the companies that make the charging stations.

There are five that have a shot at getting some of this action:

Coulomb Technologies

ECOtality (NASDAQ: ECTY)

AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV)

General Electric (NYSE: GE)

Siemens (NYSE: SI)

Playing the charging angle is tricky, though. Your choices are limited to small, speculative plays or huge corporations that simply have some exposure to this market.

Certainly there’s opportunity here. But quite frankly, this isn’t where the real money is.

If You Build It, They Will Come

Here’s the interesting thing about California’s focus on electric cars.

The state expects to have 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2025. Most of these will be electric.

And don’t let the loudmouths in Washington or the media dissuade you. This is going to happen.

Of course, if you think I’m off base, that’s fine. But I’ve spent enough time with lawmakers in California and top execs at the biggest automakers to know this path to 1.5 million is well under way.

Now, we also know that by 2015, all the major cities in California will have adequate infrastructure in place to accommodate these 1.5 zero-emission vehicles.

Last week’s announcement just further validates California’s commitment.

By the way, this announcement came just days after it was announced that a 160-mile stretch of Interstate 5 is now outfitted with fast-chargers that can charge an electric car in 20 minutes. They’re spaced about 25 miles apart all along this Pacific Coast motorway.

My point is this: More than half of the states in this nation are now actively building out an infrastructure to support the integration of electric cars.

You may not be a fan of electric cars. You may think they’re inefficient, unattractive, and unable to meet your daily driving needs.

But make no mistake about it; that should have no bearing on whether or not you decide to profit from them.