California to set up a $1B electric car network

http://venturebeat.com/2008/11/20/california-to-set-up-a-1b-electric-car-network/

by zsection • 18 years ago

28 26 18 years ago

This is where we should take Detroit's bailout and stick it. Nationwide please.

kirse2• 18 years ago

I will cling to the performance and adrenaline-rushed excitement of driving my 300hp, 6-speed M.T. gasoline-powered car until death (or absolute lack of funds) pries it from my bare hands.

I would rather die of starvation before being forced to drive one of those electric slothboxes.

Then again, that's me, I doubt many of my fellow citizens have the same passion for automotive ecstasy.

abstractbill• 18 years ago

I was under the impression electric cars could deliver more performance and adrenaline than petrol cars, because an electric motor produces maximum torque at all speeds. Is this not so?

netcan2• 18 years ago

Try croc caving.

coryrc3• 18 years ago

There are 250 million passenger vehicles in the USA. And 7.6 million sold in in 2006.

No one is going to take your car, but if they wanted to, you could probably keep it for 40 years or so, if manufacturing was switched to 100% electric car tomorrow :)

DaniFong5• 18 years ago

I've only just realized that this kind of behavior in response to global warming represents the flip-side of why anonymity brings out such horrible things in people, on the internet.

Instead of specific victims and anonymous perpetrators, we have specific perpetrators and anonymous, scattered, uncertain victims. It hardly even makes sense for people to talk about victims of one's globally dispersed pollutants, even if it causes just as much damage.

Retric• 18 years ago

Tesla Roadster 0-60 in 4 seconds which is not bad but go with KillaCycle LSR Electric Motorcycles which goes 0 to 60 in .97 seconds yea less than one second quarter mile in 7.89 seconds @ 168 MPH.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/11/electric-motorcycles...

http://www.killacycle.com/2008/10/24/new-world-record-at-ban...

coryrc3• 18 years ago

Instead of paying 10-20 cents a mile to a number of companies and countries in a some-what free market, we will be moving toward a system where one company, not based in the United States, will have complete control over our fueling infrastructure.

If you weren't aware, the project better place system is like the cell-phone market in the US. You will buy a slightly discounted car but are only able to fill up at exorbitant rates from bp-owned equipment.

On the other hand, cars like the Volt (as if it will ever be built) or a PHEV Prius can be charged at home or any type of outlet. A completely free market with no monopolies. We can't afford to change from a dependence on one fuel to a dependence on a single company.

EDIT:

Well, shoot, maybe I should have read it all. They won't be operating the same as in Israel. Hence this line in the article: "That’s likely why it was clearly stated that the thousands of Better Place stations to be installed in northern California will be agnostic to the type of electric car"

but we should remain vigilant; Magnacharge lobbied the NEC committee to effectively only allow their over-priced, patented charger to comply. See: http://www.repp.org/discussion/ev/199712/msg01052.html

ardit33• 18 years ago

who is stopping other companies to do the same. They also are explicitly saying that they need to provide interfaces that is available to all cars.

Who is to stop any other company to do the same, provide more competition and lower prices?

hugh3• 18 years ago

Apparently not included in the plan: building new power stations, or even any discussion of it.

Anyone got any good numbers on questions like: if half of California's cars were switched to electrical over the next ten years, how many more power stations would the state require?

DaniFong5• 18 years ago

It depends on how much use they get out of each vehicle and which sort of vehicle they are. I calculated that about ten square meters of mirrors at a solar thermal station would power one average U.S. daily commute with an electric microcar. A low drag vehicle like the Aptera would require around 5 - 6 square meters, instead. Provided that we can get our drivetrain, engine, and regenerative braking as efficient as we think we can, then we can get that down to 3 square meters for a compressed air powered microcar, and less than 1 square meter for a compressed air powered scooter.

netcan2• 18 years ago

How much emissions (if any) are saved under different power plant regimes coal, gas, etc. Anyone have an idea?

DaniFong5• 18 years ago

A major coup. I called them up and congratulated them.

dmix• 18 years ago

Shai Agassi is one of the most inspiring post-success entrepreneurs.

I find this more interesting then blindly giving millions to charities.

bprater• 18 years ago

Did anybody call the Big 3 and inform them of the standardized battery size and location?

miked• 18 years ago

Spending initiatives like this are why the wife and I are leaving the state early next year. We don't feel like sticking around when the tax bill comes due, which we'd have to do if we bought a house here.

Evidently the state's not deeply enough in debt yet. With the higher taxes coming up to pay for all this, even more taxpayers and corporations (7,000 in the last few years) will leave, accelerating the financial death spiral.

California to set up a $1B electric car network

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