Electric Car Networks Heading For the West Coast

Published November 23, 2008

Electric cars and the infrastructure needed to power them got a big push on several fronts last week with the announcements of new networks in two states.

The electric transportation company Better Place will enter the U.S. market and the San Francisco Bay Area in a partnership with the mayors of San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland. The company will invest about $1 billion on an electric car infrastructure meant to make the Bay Area the "Electric Vehicle Capital of the U.S."

The Palo Alto-based company expects that electric cars will be available to the mass market by 2012. Beginning in December, the partners will begin the permitting process to install EV charging outlets in parking lots, homes, and buildings throughout the Bay Area, coordinate regulations and standards across the region, establish government programs and incentives to promote the purchase of EVs and installation of charging outlets, and link the network to local air and transit quality programs.

Better Place has already embarked on similar projects in Australia, Israel and Denmark, the last of which are part of partnership with the Renault-Nissan Alliance, which will supply the cars in those countries.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance said last week it would join governments in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, to promote and develop EVs and a battery-charging network.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance also formed a partnership with the state of Oregon and Portland General Electric to establish an EV charging network. In exchange for supplying the cars, the state will create plans to promote the network while the Dept. of Transportation will operate and maintain it. Portland General Electric help building the network, and has already installed six charging stations in the Portland and Salem areas.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance also is pursuing initiatives in Portugal, Japan, France and the state of Tennessee.

Car News Of Tata And Tesla

Himanshu (not verified), March 22, 2009 - 22:31

Tata Motors has been hard-hit by the global downturn. Commercial vehicle sales, its core business, have been decimated as India's growth slows, and consumers have had trouble getting affordable car loans.

The company declared a loss of 2.63 billion rupees ($54 million) for the October to December quarter, and it has been struggling to refinance the remaining $2 billion of a $3 billion loan it took to buy the Jaguar and Land Rover brands from Ford Motor Co. in June.

Tesla Motors hopes to garner more acclaim this week when it unveils the Model S, an electric sedan that will target more practical buyers and potentially transform the San Carlos, Calif., company from a fringe player to a mainstream automaker.
Used trucks

Latest News on Electric cars

Anonymous, March 6, 2009 - 02:57

Electric cars were getting a free ride because owners don't pay gasoline taxes that help fund road construction and maintenance. He proposed imposing a surcharge for elelectric cars, including upcoming, faster models like the Chevy Volt, based on estimates of how many miles they'll be driven.
http://www.nopycars.com

Beneficial.

furblog (not verified), January 7, 2009 - 19:11

I really believe their there will come a time that t they will both respect the identity and culture of each company and not interfering in operations like how each one would go on gas mileage improvements.

Fixes that fail?

Anonymous, November 29, 2008 - 20:39

I'm genuinely excited to see the abandonment of the combustion engine for electric motors. But think that too often we confuse the motor for the storage device.

Electric motors does not mean that our default future means battery powered 'plug in' cars. In fact, if you talk to any auto engineer - they will confirm the brutal facts. Cars are no iPods. And next generation electric vehicles are likely to integrate batteries, fuel cells and capacitors. Not one device will rule the auto world.

Batteries are in peak of hype phase, hydrogen is coming out of bottom of 'disillusionment' phase. And capacitors remain on the fringe, but will surely get their True Believer case made.

Investing a billion dollars in the Bay Area for battery powered cars? Three years ago Plug In advocates were saying it would be cheaper to plug in then hydrogen? But a billion for one early adopter urban area? What's the story?

I love Better Place. But what I respect is their reinvention of the car ownership model and catridge 'swap out' scheme, not their desire to extend electric lines.

I think we all might benefit from applying real foresight here-- and not just leaping in to solve a first generation electric vehicle problem.

We need to really think about how this is going to play out in the long term...

Garry Golden
Editor
TheEnergyRoadmap.com
http://www.theenergyroadmap.com

DISADVANTAGES of existing HEV configuarations (HEDS)

Anonymous, November 27, 2008 - 09:27

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=36484

Hybrid EV has being brought LOTS of attention, Started from Toyota Prius-II .
What is the DISADVANTAGES of TOYOTA Prius - II in its Hybrid Electric Driventrain System (HEDS) Configuration??

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