Saturday, May 21, 2011

Electric Vehicles: Coulomb Charging Station

I maintain that one of the most exciting changes that is going to develop in the next 10 years is the continued introduction of electric vehicles.

Whether these vehicles are PHEV (plugin hybrid electric vehicles) or straight EV (electric vehicles), the issue of charging infrastructure is going to be one of the most important (and potentially lucrative) issues that will need to be addressed.

Coulomb Technologies has been on a mission to address this issue, and recently their name has been popping up more and more in the news. Recently, Steven Chu congratulated Coulomb Technologies on their 500th charging station in the United States.

Coulomb already has an international presence with nearly 4,000 stations shipped worldwide, but it is still impressive to see that there have already been 500 installed in the United States (most of which are meant for public use).

I am personally excited about plugin vehicles because it opens the door for the following:

  • New automotive innovations.
  • American jobs (if the big producers get ahead of the curve and begin ramping up EV production).
  • Clean energy production because people aren't going to want to expand the grid with traditionally dirty production to support this new clean transportation technology.
  • More sustainable city living because these cars are currently perfect for short driving distances, and city residents typically never drive more than the ranges that these cars have to offer.
Either way, it was good to see Coulomb in the news with Steven Chu because this signals that the technology is catching on, and lets face it, I always love to have an excuse to post this picture of Steven Chu.


No comments:

Post a Comment