Want a Leafy Car with Jelly-Bean Extension Cord? Get in Line in Vancouver in 2010
October 12, 2009 by Andrea J. Lee
Filed under Beyond..., General, Personal
I first heard this sweeping vision at TED Palm Springs in February. Shai Agassi’s talk of electric-car-charging stations – to replace gas stations – around the world was invigorating, but there were a lot of naysayers at dinner later.
Could the giant iceberg of existing infrastructure be stopped, and momentum gained in the other direction? Instead of plugging my nose when gassing up, could I get used to swapping the batteries in my car in a little electric car drive through? Where would Shai’s vision first break ground and when? Or would it?
Here is the TED.com video in question so you can see for yourself. Remember TED talks are all 20 minutes at most, and speakers are requested to give the ‘talk of their lives.’ Prepare to enjoy.
Cut to what, 8 months later? Today.
Via Nissan.
Nissan, along with the Canadian province of British Columbia, the City of Vancouver, and BC Hydro, have announced that British Columbians will have a chance to get their hands on Nissan’s LEAF electric car sooner than the rest of the world. Global distribution is planned for 2012, but Canada’s Westernmost province will see it come in 2011.
Electric Cars in Vancouver
Gregor Robertson, the mayor of Vancouver (host of the 2010 winter olympics) said:
“Moving towards a zero-emission mobility program gets Vancouver closer to our goal of becoming the world’s greenest city.
We’ve moved very aggressively to bring in electric vehicle charging infrastructure regulations for Vancouver that is a first for North America.
The City will need electric vehicles to charge on that new infrastructure.
We are very pleased to be the first Canadian municipal partner of Nissan, a global leader in electric-vehicle technologies.”
So now it’s ‘we have the infrastructure planned for and coming, and we need some cars.’ Nice!
New legislation in Vancouver requires developers of new condominiums and apartments to make electric outlets available in a minimum of 20% of parking spots. Can downstream items like slick extension cords in jelly bean colors be far behind? Shai, what have you started?
I’m happy for Vancouver, in its lovely vision, along with the new Leaf, or should that be Leaves, soon to fill its streets. And, well, I like the color of the model. Did they steal it from Flik, the main ant character in A Bug’s Life, do you think?
Read more about the Leaf here. If you’d like a report on the test drive, as soon as I can get one, stay tuned.
