General Motors’ Innovator Britta Gross to Keynote International Parking Institute Conference in Phoenix, June 10-13
(Fredericksburg, VA) May 24, 2012 – How are plug-in electric vehicles changing consumers and their expectations of parking? Do we fully grasp the big picture implications of electric car technology?
Few are better equipped to address those questions than General Motors’ (GM) innovation engineer Britta K. Gross, who will be the June 11 keynote speaker at the 2012 International Parking Institute (IPI) Conference & Expo in Phoenix, Arizona, June 10-13.
As Director of Infrastructure Planning for GM, Gross leads the discussion for the company on the development of hydrogen and electrical infrastructure required to support General Motors’ rapidly developing electric-propulsion vehicle technologies. Her extensive career began in aerospace in 1983 with Hughes Space & Communications, where she led mission design and systems engineering teams developing satellite programs. She went on to lead a joint aerospace/automotive project involving Hughes, GM, and Opel in Germany, later joining GM’s Advanced Vehicle Technology programs to work on the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle program.
With electric vehicles gaining market acceptance, consumers will increasingly expect parking facilities to house charging stations, changing the face of parking as we know it.
“I think we have probably not had enough dialogue between automakers and the parking industry,” Gross noted in The Parking Professional, the monthly magazine of IPI. “The opportunity is absolutely right to develop some win-win new directions.”
Meeting the demand for charging facilities is one of many sustainability topics to be addressed at the 2012 IPI Conference& Expo, which is the world’s largest gathering of parking professionals. In addition to Gross, IPI has tapped leading experts to update decision makers across all segments of the industry on the latest technology, trends, new product innovations, and sustainability solutions.
“The parking industry is taking a leadership role in environmental stewardship,” says Shawn Conrad, CAE, executive director of IPI. “Today’s parking professionals address everything from accommodating alternative fuel vehicles to installing renewable energy technology such as photovoltaic, wind power, bio-fuels, and hydrogen fuel cells, using sustainable paving materials, and so much more.”
IPI’s Framework on Sustainability for Parking Design, Management, and Operations is downloadable at www.parking.org.
For more information about the conference and to register, visit www.parking.org/conference.
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Media Contact:
Helen Sullivan
International Parking Institute
703.847.9702 (office)
703.606.7622 (mobile)
sullivan@parking.org