Gearing up for the Mainstream Entry of All Electric Cars
There have been electricity-assisted cars running around the world for some time now; these cars, of which the Prius is one, basically run on gasoline the whole time. They just use their internal combustion engines to keep an internal battery charged, so that when the car needs to run at very low speeds, it can turn on battery power. As much as the Prius feels like an electric car, it isn't really one; real all-electric cars, would have no gasoline engine; they would be the kind you plug in. There have been few cars made like this; they don't really sell that well, because people realize that when your battery runs down, you can't really be expected to tow the car back home to plug it in. There have to be charging stations everywhere. That's the only way anyone would ever really pick up on all-electric cars. You've read about the Chevy Volt and the 125 mph Tesla Roadster , haven't you? The all electric cars are coming. All that remains, is a development plan across towns and cities in America, to have the charging infrastructure in place before then.
If any city in America is going to be ready for all electric cars, it would have to be the capital of America's most environmentally conscious state, San Francisco. And perhaps Portland and San Diego. These are places with enough of a young and with-it crowd that can't wait to do something environmentally responsible. They have drawn up building regulations across San Francisco - any new building will need to be ready-wired to provide charging stations for cars. Across the street from City Hall, there are already a bunch of charging stations. In fact, the utility company Pacific Gas and Electric is so concerned about how all-electric cars are going to be runaway popular, they are drawing up plans to strengthen the wiring to key areas, so that they don't overload on too many cars charging at the same time.
Having the utility companies doing their bit for the car companies'plans isn't the only thing that needs doing here. Local governments need to work out the kind of tax breaks they will be willing to hand out to electric car buyers too. It might seem like all of this is a little too much close attention paid just to get a couple of tax breaks and charging sockets out. But charging your car isn't as simple as it sounds. Anyone who wants a charging point installed at his home now, can look at the best part of a month of repeated visits by inspectors, technicians and installers, not to mention repeated reminder phone calls.
The infrastructure for all electric cars is getting a bit of a trial run at Google and Adobe in Silicon Valley. Google owns a fleet of all electric cars they hand around to their employees. At Google, the company electric garage is powered by solar panels, and has a bunch of charging ports. Adobe is doing much the same. Everyone's expecting lots of action really soon.