San Francisco vs. Portland in an Electric Car Race of a different sort [w/VIDEO]
Electric vehicles in San Francisco vs. Portland - Click above to watch the video after the break
While the Auto X Prize is working on making an actual clean vehicle race take place in the U.S. sometime soon, Gas 2.0 is putting together a "race" between U.S. cities to see which of them can get an electric vehicle charging infrastructure ready first. Currently, Portland, Oregon and San Francisco, California are involved in the "Electric Vehicle War," which Gas 2.0 hopes will "spur a broader discussion on electric vehicle infrastructure that involves citizens, industry leaders, and major politicians."
Some examples of Portland's EV work: the city is testing some Toyota RAV4 EVs and will welcome the iMiEV. In San Francisco's favor: GM likes it as an early Volt-friendly city and city hall already has a vehicle charging that Zipcar's first plug-in vehicle uses. Another likely contender in the fight could be Seattle: it is working with Nissan and the Mayor is being kind of bullish about EVs. Check out a video featuring some good, old-fashioned boasting after the jump.
[Source: Electric Car Race]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chris M 4:19PM (7/14/2009)
What can I say? I love both cities, but for slightly different reasons, don't live in either one. San Francisco has more tourist attractions, Golden Gate park, Academy of Sciences, The Exploratorium, several art museums, and the most wonderfully gay street in the world. Driving in San Francisco is a pain, with narrow streets and steep hills, parking is a problem, but the public transit is excellent. Portland is a laid back city with a beautiful rose garden, good streets and good public transit, surrounded by spectacular mountains.
Nice to see the competition pushing the rollout of EV infrastructure. Perhaps we should see if we can get a few more cities of similar size into some friendly EV competition.
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gulags 4:34PM (7/14/2009)
As a former resident of SF, I can only speak to its particulars, though I'm fairly certain that Portland will have the same problems; any electric-charging infrastructure is going to be under constant, very aggressive physical attack. The homeless and the tweakers won't be able to resist the sweet, sweet promise of copper. Plus there's always the nihilist and sociopathic element that just likes to break stuff.
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jpm 5:35PM (7/14/2009)
Gavin Newsom is weird. He's way to swanky and suave -- to the point of repulsiveness. Anyways besides his personality, I don't think he's done jack for SF... I think the majority of SF will agree. But at least this EV stuff is good work.
And if he becomes governor... CA may take a turn for the worse.
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