San Francisco Set to Lead the Electric Vehicle Revolution
Posted By Ariel Schwartz On February 18, 2010 @ 7:00 pm In automotive,Green Transportation,San Francisco | 1 Comment
Want to jump start the electric vehicle [4] revolution? Then make it illegal to ignore. That’s what San Francisco [5] is doing with a revised building code that will require all new structures to have wiring for EV chargers [6]. The new code is just one of a handful of reasons why the city is set to lead the EV pack, according to a recent article in the New York Times [7].
[8]
Another thing the Bay Area has on its side: it can lay claim to Silicon Valley-based EV-related companies like Coulomb Technologies [9], Better Place [10], and Tesla Motors [11]. The increased visibility of green cars has already led to a boom in hybrid car sales — in Berkeley, one in every 5 cars sold in a Prius. Rest assured the area will also be quick to latch on to the plug-in hybrid Prius when it is released.
When the EV onslaught begins, local utilities will have to be prepared for the rise in electricity usage. PG&E’s pilot smart charging [12] project, scheduled to begin later this year, should help with the process by connecting 200 EVs to charging stations where the utility can control electrical demand.
A fully-functional smart grid [13] will be key to making sure that power outages don’t occur as a result of the entire Bay Area trying to plug in their EVs at the same time after work. But that’s one of the disadvantages of being an earlier adopter — San Francisco [14] will have to work out the kinks of EV charging. Still, someone has to do it, and the tech-savvy Bay Area might just be the best place.
+ SFGov [15]
Via New York Times [7]
Article printed from Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building: http://inhabitat.com
URL to article: http://inhabitat.com/san-francisco-set-to-lead-the-electric-vehicle-revolution/
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[3] Email: mailto:?subject=http://inhabitat.com/san-francisco-set-to-lead-the-electric-vehicle-revolution/
[4] electric vehicle: http://www.inhabitat.com/tag/electric-vehicle/
[5] San Francisco: http://sf.inhabitat.com/
[6] EV chargers: http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/12/10/better-place-vehicle-network-expanding-quickly/
[7] New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/15/business/15electric.html
[8] Image: http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/02/18/san-francisco-set-to-lead-the-electric-vehicle-revolution/chargepoint-lead01/
[9] Coulomb Technologies: http://www.coulombtech.com/
[10] Better Place: http://www.betterplace.com/
[11] Tesla Motors: http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/03/31/the-tesla-model-s-revealed/
[12] smart charging: http://www.pge.com/about/news/mediarelations/newsreleases/q3_2007/070912.shtml
[13] smart grid: http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/04/30/energy-101-what-is-a-smart-grid/
[14] San Francisco: http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/06/01/solar-powered-bus-shelter-unveiled-in-san-francisco/
[15] + SFGov: http://www.sfgov.org/index.asp
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