There's a lot happening with the electrification of vehicles right now. Real things, concrete steps towards full scale mass deployment. The kickoff of the Nissan Leaf tour last week and the unveiling of the City of Houston's first charging station last Tuesday (with fourteen more Coloumb stations to be installed by Verdek soon) for starters.
The host of car companies that intend to offer electric vehicles at production scale in the coming year:
- Prius plug-in
- Nissan Leaf
- Chevy Volt
The Electrification Coalition launched last week (the coalition being a group of business leaders, including FedEx founder Fred Smith, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn and other heavy hitters, organizations with vested interests in the success of electrification--see the list here) promoting the "deployment of electric vehicles on a mass scale in order to combat the economic, environmental, and national security dangers caused by [America's] dependence on petroleum."
And the big one, the announcement by Better Place that they have placed orders for 100,000 charging stations and 100,000 Nissan Leaf (which Better Place suggests will be less expensive and more convenient than conventionally powered cars). One Hundred Thousand. Orders placed. "The first mega-deal for electric cars in history" as Shai Agassi puts it. This is a significant step, where the money has been laid down for the two big electrification pieces: cars, and charging stations.
Catch the announcement here:
We may be witnessing history, if this moment is being interpreted properly: the moment when we began the substantive transition from an oil based economy.
Photos: btrplc on flickr
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