Edward T. Kjaer

Edward Kjaer is the director of SCE’s Plug-In Electric Vehicle Readiness program.  In his role, he  is responsible for this broad corporate wide effort preparing the company to support electric vehicles connecting to the SCE’s system.  Program responsibilities include; Infrastructure Preparation; Operations Support; Customer Outreach and Education; External Engagement and Regulation & Legislation.

Previously, Mr. Kjaer was director of SCE’s Electric Transportation department since 1999.  In that role he was responsible for all aspects of SCE’s electro-drive transportation activities, including technical support of SCE’s industry leading pure battery EV fleet- having traveled over 20 million EV miles since inception.  In addition, his responsibilities included conducting industry-leading studies evaluating and demonstrating next-generation battery EV, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell EVs, advanced energy storage technology evaluation and the integration of sustainable transportation solutions into the future smart grid. These efforts were conducted at SCE’s Electric Vehicle Technical Center- a unique facility in the electric utility industry.

From 1996 to 1999, Mr. Kjaer was director of the Automotive Division of Edison EV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Edison Enterprises charged with building the infrastructure for electric vehicles in California. While this company no longer exists, the work of Edison EV remains in place today in California to support the launch of next generation plug-in vehicles beginning in 2010.

Prior to joining Edison, Mr. Kjaer held several marketing and advertising positions in the automotive industry, including Corporate Marketing Manager, Mazda Motor of America and Account Manager, Ketchum Advertising working on the launch of Acura Automobiles for American Honda Motor Company.

Mr. Kjaer participates in a number of electro-drive-related organizations, including the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Edison Electric Institute (EEI).  He was a member of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s Hydrogen Highway Advisory Panel, and is a current or past board member of the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA) and the California Electric Transportation Coalition (CalETC). Recently he received the prestigious “Hall of Fame” award from the Electric Drive Transportation Association and has been named to the Automotive News “Electrifying 100” most influential people leading industry towards a more electric powered transportation future.