The future of the electric car (Pt. 2)

Another organization is working towards the goal of electric cars as well. Repower America is an organization promoting the goals originally conceived by Al Gore in a July 2008 speech.

Like Project Get Ready, Repower America recognizes the difficult first steps to making electric cars a viable option. However, rather than work on consumer confidence, Repower America is directly tackling the infrastructure necessary for plug-in electric cars.

The basic goal of Repower America is to convert to 100% renewable energy in America in 10 years. One of the main tenets of this goal is to completely revamp and modernize the electrical grid, which would include adding access for plug-in electric cars. Revamping the grid is necessary to take full advantage of renewable energy sources, as many operate with peak and low hours (solar, wind, etc) and require energy storage and transfer capabilities not currently possible.

As advocates from Repower America work to make their goal happen, systems will be designed to conduct the necessary transfers and storage of energy, which will impact how electric car owners receive and pay for the energy they use.

The future of the electric car (Pt. 1)

Worldchanging recently published a story regarding Project Get Ready, an advocacy organization for the electric car. Project Get Ready is an initiative by the Rocky Mountain Institute, a self-describe "think and do" tank run by L. Hunter and Amory Lovins.

Project Get Ready was designed to tackle the biggest problem facing the electric car: consumer confidence. Because of the significant changes in infrastructure necessary to make electric cars a viable option, consumers are hesitant to buy into the system, unsure of their investment risk. Project Get Ready is working with individual cities to create a structure that will increase confidence:

To create such an ecosystem, incentives need to be put in ranging from financial incentives, to “luxuries” (like parking spots), advertising, job training, education, service, and more.

The initiative is currently working with three cities, Portland, OR; Indianapolis, IN; and Raleigh, NC, but they would like to increase that number to 20 to help meet their goal of making 2% of cars in the US electric by 2015.

More information about the specific goals of Project Get Ready and how to get involved is available here.