Like all new technologies, the hype of the promise sometimes overshadows some of the practical issues. Many of these will work themselves out as the the technology is improved or other adoption milestones are achieved. An interesting article in the Washington posts makes this point. very well.
The Charlottesville Daily Progress reports on Albemarle County-based Aker Wade Power Technologies work on quick charge battery technology.
The manufacturer of fast-charge devices used to repower forklifts and other battery-operated equipment in manufacturing plants and industry has entered into an agreement with Japanese car makers and power companies to build quick-charge devices for electric cars.
An interesting article in Seeking Alpha discusses the economics and ecological impact of the upcoming wave of electric vehicles that use lithium ion (Li-Ion) battery technology. John Petersen states that the promise that we will all soon be driving electric cars is not practical due to costs, scarcity of materials, and sustainability issues. 
Virginia Business reports today that Wytheville-based MTC Transformers, has started a subsidiary, Evatran LLC, to produce inductive (no plug) charging systems for electric cars.
From the Rocky Mountain Institute, a non-profit initiative called Project Get Ready is “preparing cities for the introduction of plug-in hybrid vehicles” [via].
Its goal is to bring “all the various players to the table: city planners, local coalitions, nonprofits and [...] big utilities,” to ” make sure there’s enough charging stations, easy-to-get permits, consumer education and fleet buy-in.”
From the CNet article:
As well, it’s important to address the chicken-and-egg problem: If consumers don’t feel they have places to plug in their new electric cars, they won’t buy them. And if people won’t buy them, car makers won’t make them.
It sounds like STIR has goals in common with similar initiatives in other cities — maybe we need to look further into collaboration? This blog and site are a good start, but they’re still just a start…
EVOASIS is a San Diego, California and London, UK based company which develops full service Fast-Charge, Electric Vehicle (EV) and Plug-In Hybrid-Electric Vehicle (PHEV) Charging Station Facilities (EVSTAT). Get your car charged and some latte for you.
The fight for battery technology in electric cars continue as manufacturers line up behind nickel metal hydride (Ni-mh) and Lithium-ion. Telsa’s entry into Europe, heats things up.
