ECOtality, Inc., a dealer of clean electric transportation and storage technologies, announced that Don Karner, president of ECOtality North America, will moderate a panel discussion on the planning and deployment of electric vehicles and related infrastructure in Washington, D.C.

Karner heads the development of products and services for ECOtality North America, and has authored several papers that relate to the deployment of advanced transportation.

The panel is part of the U.S. Department of Energy's "Plug-In Vehicle and Infrastructure Workshop" focused towards educating communities on advanced technology vehicles.

Karner alongside city government officials from Indiana, California, Texas and Arizona, will guide a discussion focused on community planning for electric vehicles, with particular focus on topics pertaining to charger installation and permitting processes, financing, and public/private partnerships. The DOE's educational workshop will also see representation from leading automakers including Nissan and GM among few other major utilities.

ECOtality North America, in its role as project manager for The EV Project will oversee the deployment of nearly 15,000 charging stations in 16 cities across six U.S. states, as well as the District of Columbia.

The project, a private-public partnership with a total value of $230 million, is partially funded by the U.S. Department of Energy through a federal stimulus grant of $114.8 million. The main focus of The EV Project is to create and test robust electric vehicle-charging environments.