As we mentioned earlier this week, the Bay Area will receive $5 million for electric vehicle charging stations as part of the Spare the Air program. This should be welcome news indeed for any current electric vehicle owners or to those considering making the switch. One of the current deterrents to going electric is the fact that a fully charged battery may only withstand short journeys (typically up to 100 miles). More charging stations would provide drivers with more flexibility and help to reduce anxiety- more charging stations would mean that a battery could charge while a driver is at work or out and about fulfilling errands.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD)’s approval for funding is just one of many signs that the electric vehicle movement is not far from appealing to a wider audience. President Obama has demonstrated his interest in the subject by not only visiting a Kansas electric manufacturer in July, but also by test driving a Chevy Volt, a new hybrid, a couple of weeks ago. Other companies, such as BMW and Renault, are working to develop sportier and highly durable models, which would show that electric cars will not always be left in the dust of their gas-dependent counterparts.
Soon many more people will have the ability to try out electric vehicles for themselves. Car rental companies, like Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Hertz, will begin offering the Nissan Leaf, a fully electric car, to customers in certain cities early next year.
California based startups are also getting in on the Electric Vehicle, otherwise known as EV, action. California’s Zero Emission Vehicle program allows smaller companies to sell zero emission credits to larger companies. The longer an EV can travel on zero emissions, the more credits it’s worth. One such startup is CODA, which aims to make EVs more readily available and affordable to drivers around the world.
Getting excited yet? We certainly are. If you’d like to learn more about purchasing an EV or a hybrid we highly recommend that you visit DriveClean, which offers a buying guide and tools for measuring smog and global warming scores.
Have you or any of your friends gone electric? If so, please share your experiences with us in the comments!
