It Takes a Village to Sell an Electric Car- Response (4)

This article shows that car companies realize they need the proper infrastructure if they are going to be successful selling electric cars. If people can't charge their batteries outside their homes, or trade their discharges batteries for charged batteries at convenient locations, then they won't start buying electric cars.

Car companies want cities and states to install charging stations in public spaces and they want companies to install them at their businesses and parking lots. Nissan wants to introduc its electric car in 2010 to a region that has the proper infrastructure in place. In 2012 they hope to be able to introduce them to the "mass market."

Nissan is trying to set-up battery swapping station in several countries as well as Hawaii and San Francisco. These station would look like car-washes and exchange their recharged batteries for discharged batteries.

Electric companies need to help establish standards for charging so that charging stations and batteries would be compatable. They also need to prepare for the extra electricity required to charge a large number of electric cars. It is estimated that when 60% of cars are electric, this will amount to 7-8% of power grid usage.

Also, if people installed 240-volt outlets in their garages, it would decrease the charging time for cars like the Chevrolet Volt to 3 hours compared to 8 hours with a normal 120-volt outlet.

This information shows that it takes much more to become an electric car country than just electric cars.

It Takes a Village to Sell an Electric Car (4)

I found this article at http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10122072-54.html.

The article is about how car companies intend to target places where governments are willing to provide incentives to purchase plug-in electric cars and install charging stations. Utilities, too, need to be involved so that the grid doesn't become stressed by a rush of electric cars.

Tony Posawatz, vehicle line director of the Chevy Volt said, "General Motors is already coordinating with industry partners, community leaders, and utilities to ensure that the apparent strong demand for the Chevy Volt--due in November 2010--will have the infrastructure to back it up."

Cities or states could create incentives to install charging "pedestals" in urban neighborhoods or other public spaces. Similarly, businesses or parking lot owners could install charging ports.

With a good charging infrastructure in place, auto makers hope that mainstream consumers, rather than just early adopters, will have a positive experience with plug-in electric cars.

Nissan is considering a battery swapping program, something that start-up Better Place plans to set up in a number of countries, Hawaii, and the San Fransisco Bay area. The idea is to avoid the problem of a car's limited battery range by having a network of locations where drivers can swap fresh batteries in for depleted ones. These would resemble car washes.

"Other auto makers are taking a similar region-by-region approach," said David Patterson, senior manager for research and development at Mitsubishi Motors in North America, "Mitshubishi's electric subcompact, the iMiev, has been testing a fast charging infrastructure with seven Japanese utilities capable of replenishing battery charge to 80 percent in 30 minutes."

Chaunceys Second Response

Liam, your response are very through and easy to read. I agree with you that the automobile industry should be bail out if they use the money wisely. I think it would be great if hybrid and electric cars could be very good for today's economic but they are to expensive. I think it would be cool if you could interview someone from the auto industry about more fuel efficient cars, that would be really neat. Also, it would cool to do some research on how electric cars will negativly affect the economy, since gas wouldn't be bought as much.
Keep the good work!

Katrina's Second Post

Wow, you're doing a really good job. It's so fascinating to hear about how energy efficient cars are progressing. I think the key to a good car being created is that its cheap, spacious, and comfortable of course, but also that there are 'fuel' stations around the country so that you don't buy the car and then have no where to refuel. If the car is an electric car that is plugged into your house then people, might worry about going on trips. Looking into Obama's plan for things like this would be really, really interesting to see how the government is going to deal with this problem because one things for sure, we need a solution fast. It would also be very informitive to find a chart somewhere or just some way to compare the budgets that different companys have for creating more fuel efficient cars. You have a great blog so far.

Hey, I just found this when digging around for Barack's green plan.. i don't know if it would be helpful, but it seems like a great idea for people who live in citys to use small yet useful electric cars to zip around. When I went to France a couple years back, there were sooo many smart cars, America should jump on the band-wagon.

Cole- Second Response

Liam, i really like the topic you chose, it is really interesting and there will be a lot of information on the subject. It is cool that you are researching the different types of cars and how they work and the problems with them. I got really excited when I saw your post on the Tesla Roadster. There is a reaaaaaaaly good 60 Minutes episode that goes over all of the aspects of the car and the new company. It also talks about the other car companies and their disadvantages, advantages, and mostly shortcomings. I'm not sure if you'll be able to find it but if you can I'm sure it would be very interesting for you to watch.

Hayden- Second Response

I really liked your topic and how you're learning about how new cars are being made and how they overall deliver what people want from a car. I think it would be interesting if you got in to what kind of technology is being used to make these cars work. If you were to concider how gas cars can potentialy be made more fuel efficient you would be able to make a comparison of gas vs. electric.

Jackson's second response

Liam- it really seems that this topic interests you. All of your responses are shockingly thorough and interesting (compared to mine). I really liked the article and response about GM and their effort to produce electric cars. I think you should do another article on GM and their rejected request for a bailout, since its all over the news right now and is very relevant to your topic. I remember watching the video in Chemistry about the Tesla Roadster; it is amazing that it can travel 200 miles on a single charge, and that a charge-up only costs two dollars! That's like getting 175 miles per gallon in a gas powered car! This is a very interesting topic and you're doing a good job researching it and finding informative articles.