neon lights for cars
February 22nd, 20121$ Billion for Electric Cars in San Francisco Bay
February 22nd, 2012A $1 billion plan proposed by Better Place for the San Francisco Bay Area has been endorsed by the Bay Area's big-city mayors, including San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and San Jose's Chuck Reed.
The mayors committed to a nine-point plan that will set regional standards, and seek regional incentives for people who buy electric cars. The deal covers plans to install charging stations in homes, businesses, parking lots and government buildings by 2012. The plan calls for some 100,000 charging stations, 50 battery exchange stations, and a control center to service electric vehicles in the Bay Area.
Better Place said it will also build mechanized battery swapping centers where robots will remove and replace the batteries in cars that are compatible with the system. These stations will allow electric car drivers to travel longer distances without recharging.
The mayors vowed to help streamline local permitting and regulations to hasten the installation of hookups in the region, and to provide incentives for local businesses to install charging outlets for employees.
"Our goal is to make the Bay Area—and eventually California—the electric-vehicle capital of the world," Newsom said.
The announcement took place at San Francisco’s city hall, and was attended by the mayors of the three cities, as well as governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Better Place’s founder, Shai Agassi. The mayors’ nine-point plan calls for:
Better Place also unveiled a prototype electric Nissan Rogue SUV (photos below).
Links:
Bay Area's big-city mayors endorse $1 billion plan for electric cars – MercuryNews
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_11032113
SF Bay leaders plan $1B for electric car stations – MercuryNews
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11033024
UPDATE 1-San Francisco plans to be electric car capital – Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssAutoTruckManufacturers/idUSN2042000120081120
VentureBeat – CleanTech
http://venturebeat.com/2008/11/20/california-to-set-up-a-1b-electric-car-network/
Related articles on Gather:
Cheap electric cars – by Sam Carana
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977170000
Cheap electric cars – part 2 – by Sam Carana
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977300674
Big cars in again?
February 22nd, 2012Was watching HLN and Clark Howard. He says that since gas prices have dropped so have sales on smaller cars and we are right back to buying huge trucks and SUV’s. I guess some people haven’t learned anything. Wonder what they will do with those honking big cars when prices go up again.
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