SAN FRANCISCO – Yesterday, Gas 2.0 (gas2.org) launched ElectricCarRace.org, a site challenging cities across the nation to be first to develop city-wide electric vehicle infrastructure. A two-minute video featuring the Mayors of Portland and San Francisco kicked off the competition, along with posts written by Mayor Newsom, Portland General Electric, and the CEO of Coulomb Technologies Richard Lowenthal.
On April 6th, 2009, Portland Mayor Sam Adams threw down the gauntlet by announcing that his city would be the first to develop the charging infrastructure to support full-scale electric vehicle deployment. At that time, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had already unveiled EV charging stations in front of his own city hall. Both Mayors have now had a chance to square off on the topic in articles for the site as well as in the two minute video (see electriccarrace.org for both).
“I believe that the future is electric,” said Mayor Newsom, “and I hope to make San Francisco the epicenter of electric vehicle technology. We welcome Portland’s latest challenge, and hope that the EV competition will spread across the country, creating thousands of new jobs and helping to establish the United States as the leader in electric vehicle technology.”
“I’m here to say, bring it on – we are going to do everything we can to be the leader in electric vehicles, and this competition between San Francisco and Portland is to the benefit of all,” said Mayor Sam Adams of Portland
ElectricCarRace.org hopes to spur a broader discussion on electric vehicle infrastructure that involves citizens, industry leaders, and major politicians.
Several other electric vehicle and charging manufacturers have already contributed as well, including Frank Weber, Vehicle Line Execustive for the Chevrolet Volt. Invitations to participate have also been extended to Better Place, Tesla, Aptera, ECOtality, as well as Mayors across the Nation.
Video (please embed freely):
- EV War Trailer (2 min)
- EV War Teaser (30s)
- Full speech by Gavin Newsom (2 min)
- Chevy Volt Test Drive
PDF 
About Clayton B. Cornell
