AEP and Smart Columbus Team for ‘Ride and Drives’

Everyone’s been hearing about how Columbus won a Smart City initiative fund, and about driverless cars, but the future is friggin‘ here, and it’s going to start showing sooner than you would think.

Smart Columbus, a public-private partnership and AEP tag teamed to give their employees an educational, hands-on driving experience with electric cars. In a statement released earlier today, AEP said that it hopes to provide a grid work of 275 public electric vehicle charging stations and install smart street lighting controls that save energy and increase safety and security.

Nicholas K. Akins, AEP chairman, president and CEO, said, “We will seek input from Smart Columbus representatives and neighborhood groups about the best locations for these new technologies so they will benefit a wide range of customers, especially in underserved parts of our community.”

If that doesn’t sound like a Matrix-y, Ghost in the Shell kind of future to you, it’s because you haven’t dreamed far enough. Columbus City Council member, Shannon Hardin, couldn’t have said it any better,”Smart Cities will help uplift neighborhoods and stem the impact of climate change on vulnerable populations. The adoption of electric vehicles is a key piece to Smart Cities and the future of transportation.”

Now pair electric vehicles, car charging stations, and city-wide smart technology with driverless cars and Columbus has just made leaps and bounds into the future of transportation.

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