Could There Be An Electric Car Competition In America?

For years American car companies went at each other to see who could build the biggest and meanest SUVs. Now with the climate crisis on everyone's minds and an industry on the brink of collapse, this is the best time to change and retool the auto factories of America. Plenty of others have already and now it is our turn. The automakers may have killed the electric car before, but now it is back with avengeance.

From CNN Money:

While General Motors is moving ahead with its Volt electric midsized car, Chrysler says it already has plans in place, not just for electric cars, but also for minivans and even off-road vehicles.

Chrysler's strategy hinges on keeping it cheap. The carmaker will dispense with flashy designs in exchange for low cost and flexibility. And it plans to pile on more electric-powered models quickly once the program launches in 2010.

"We aren't a one-electric-vehicle company," Lou Rhodes, Chrysler's vice president for advanced vehicle engineering, told CNNMoney in an exclusive interview.

That is great news to hear. Watching the electric car market come into its own will be the day I celebrate though. Talking about a new future for American cars is exciting for now, but really, this should have been happening decades ago. I hope Chrysler and the rest of them are really serious about changing the way they do business, because our planet can't take too much more of our recklessness.

San Fran To Get Electric Car Infrastructure

We aren't kidding about how successful the green economy can be for our country. The amount of jobs and investment for a 21st century lifestyle is almost limitless. Turning to wind and solar power, retooling the auto industry and making the planet more energy efficient is the key to getting us out of our ecological and economic mess. One company coming to San Francisco is about to show how it gets done.

From EcoGeek:

On Thursday the mayors of San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland held a press conference to announce that the Bay Area would be home to America’s first electric car network, to be designed by Better Place, Shai Agassi’s electric car company. Better Place, in case you don’t recall, plans to build a network of charging stations which will enable the drivers of its electric cars to plug in wherever they go. Mr. Agassi has already signed on his native Israel, as well as Denmark and Australia, but until Thursday he had yet to secure a commitment from the US.

Better Place’s vision is large scale and sweeping, and to make it work they need money but – more importantly – political support. Building the network will require an untold amount of permits and, obviously, cooperation with the local electric utility, which is something that politicians can help with more than VC funds. The three mayors have outlined a nine point plan for making the Bay Area the “electric vehicle capital of America”. Among those points are helping out with the aforementioned permits, as well as buying lots of Better Place cars for municipal fleets and providing incentives for businesses to build charging stations on their property.

This is what it takes to start setting up the infrastructure of tomorrow. It is but one part of a green society that will have us all live better and without the need for gasoline. Of course we'll need to change the supplier at the beginning of the electrical line from coal, oil and yes, nuclear eventually to fuels that are 100% bio-friendly and completely renewable. It won't happen overnight, but with projects like this in the Bay Area, we're working on getting to that Better Place.