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- FulcrumVitesse, on 10/13/2008, -0/+25While the three US car makers are about to go under, the Europeans launch futuristic stuff like this.
- GordonFree, on 10/13/2008, -2/+27Again, Americans talk talk talk, and while they're busy with name calling and saying the black candidate is a terrorist because he doesn't love Jesus enough, us Europeans actually get ***** done.
Sorry guys, I love America, as most Europeans really do. We cherish the United States as if it were our son. But there is a big problem of ignorance and education going on there. People stupid enough to argue that they're voting for a candidate because the other one's an "Arab" and "scares them", should not even be allowed to vote.
Is there really any doubt left that more education = less conservatism / traditionalism = less religion = more technological success in a society? That discussion is long gone in the far side of the world, fellas. - inactive, on 10/12/2008, -0/+24this is such a great idea!
- xixphz, on 10/13/2008, -1/+16Those wacky germans are at it again.
- dfross, on 10/13/2008, -0/+12Not true.
1 huge power station, properly maintained is MUCH more efficient than several hundred thousand small, badly-serviced motors, all belching their exhaust fume right in the middle of the city.
The 1 huge power station can additionally be made more efficient far more effectively than changes to the several hundred thousand motors.
And when that huge power station changes from gas to nuclear or even solar, the electric cars keep working.
Get the infrastructure right first, and then these changes can come. - SillyRabbits, on 10/13/2008, -0/+9Well, if you haven't noticed. Texas is almost twice the size of the ENTIRE country of Germany. Why do most eco-folks have no concept of scale?
- yerlamow, on 10/13/2008, -0/+8Whoa, that is huge. At least, inspite of the world financial crisis, the Germans were able to open up this infrastructure which will bring more jobs.
- happyMensch, on 10/13/2008, -3/+11Look people. We can't go truly green until cars start running on oil alternatives like electricity and hydrogen and algae fuel etc.... The problem of greening these energy sources is step number 2. The longest journey begins with a single step. How awkward would it be to try and start a journey with a sort of two-footed hop? : ) Good job Germany.
- SilverBlade2k, on 10/13/2008, -0/+8..North America will receive this...WHEN?!?!
- hopefuel, on 10/22/2008, -1/+8Watch the movie 'who killed the electric car' - you had it and scrapped it.
RIP EV1 (built by GM)
I might move back to Berlin :) - brianpeiris, on 10/13/2008, -0/+7Excellent! I'm glad to see Europe is using it's brains and listening to its scientists.
Need this in Canada NOW! - MiddleOfNowhere, on 10/13/2008, -0/+7In fact, Germany already has a lot of "green" (6% wind as compared to 1% world-wide, 2800 MW installed solar energy capacity) energy, which is heavily subsidized by the state. And AFAIK, Germans and Dutch are currently market leaders in wind technology.
So there’s your two-footed hop.
(Personally, I couldn’t care less because I sold my car years ago... Public transportation and bicycle lanes in Berlin aren’t so bad, either. :) - phreak79, on 10/13/2008, -0/+7Awesome news. The recharging infrastructure is one of the major hurdles needed to be overcome to make these vehicles mainstream. And all this in a land where big cars rule the roost. Well done Germany.
- bcclist, on 10/13/2008, -1/+7Too "SMART" for the states...
- Leviathan433, on 10/13/2008, -0/+6Environmental blitzkrieg!
- GordonFree, on 10/13/2008, -1/+7I agree yes.
But we both know - money is not the reason why it's not being done right now, is it? ;)
Corruption is nothing compared to its brainchild: poor education of the masses. - 9bpm9, on 10/13/2008, -0/+6When the United States becomes the United State, and it doesn't cost a hell of a lot more money to create the infrastructure in this country than in a small European country.
- jameslhwalker, on 10/13/2008, -0/+6...or wind...
- maledei, on 10/13/2008, -0/+5well I live in Berlin and would rather have a cheaper public transportation system. It's already pretty well developed, but 72 € a month or 2,10 € for a one way ticket is too expensive. Make it cheaper, and electrical cars are as obsolete as gas powerd ones.
- inactive, on 10/13/2008, -0/+5As much as most reasonnable people will agree to the sadness that indeed, big time ignorants should not be able to vote, because they screw things up for everyone else with their retarded worries/values/goals, preventing people to vote is a step backward. Big time.
Don't patronize the American readers by telling them such a discussion is long gone (well mostly, at least) here in Europe. They know.
In the mean time, if they DO elect a black president, they will be one step ahead of many other rich countries.
It seems still roughly half the American people are blatantly ignorant and are intending to vote for the wrong guy because mostly of religion (which in this case often equals racism). To me, the one true way out of this for the US is that more people start to realize that a little bit of what they fearfully call "socialism" is absolutely not a bad thing. Universal, taxes-based healthcare is a good start, then more budget for public schools, and the abolition of private sponsoring of public schools. When the nation is healthy, people have more time to think about real issues.
But with all the wallstreet crap happenning these days, I guess more American people are realizing that they actually need MORE government control in certain areas. And that could lead, hopefully, to a slow but sure revolution in the American thinking. - atarijedi, on 10/13/2008, -0/+5or Nuclear!
- jads, on 10/13/2008, -0/+5It's still better than nothing.
- TimDigg, on 10/13/2008, -0/+5Progress not complacency...
Go Germany.... - danskal, on 10/13/2008, -0/+5I'm very disappointed that Germany got there before Denmark - but not surprising with our current inept (right of center) government.
- bluezombie, on 10/13/2008, -0/+4The neat thing about electric cars (over biodiesel and such) is that it moves the emissions and power generation away from a million tailpipes and into a central facility. That facility might be dirty coal today (bummer), but could become clean coal or nuclear or solar or dilithium crystals tomorrow. Meanwhile the cars just keep running regardless.
- scottsolo, on 10/13/2008, -0/+4Yes, the electricity (fuel) for electric cars DOES come mostly from coal power plants. But, you have to remember that the efficiency of an electric car/engine/system can be made to far surpass that of a car that runs on gasoline. So, you're still saving energy, and in many cases - a lot of it.
- esquimaux, on 10/13/2008, -0/+4no oil lobby there
- rotten777, on 10/13/2008, -0/+4Three US car makers are about to go under because they're parading huge trucks and SUV's... Think about this, the Cadillac Escalade HYBRID gets 16mpg highway! Gee, I wonder why they're losing their ass.
- nebben, on 10/13/2008, -0/+4Cool for Germany, but didn't this happen in California years ago, before GM, Ford, Honda and Toyota pulled their electric cars off the road?
- GordonFree, on 10/13/2008, -0/+4Sure. Keep talking.
Keep giving yourselves reasons for things not to happen. Keep telling yourselves it's not the government's incompetence or the people's laziness. After all, America is almost perfect right?... If things don't get done it's because...America is so big!... lol - fedja, on 10/13/2008, -0/+4The article said it's being done in Berlin. I figure you could do it in Boston? Orrr.. Is Boston too big?
- GordonFree, on 10/13/2008, -0/+4What the ***** is that even supposed to mean?
- BotchaMcCoola, on 10/13/2008, -0/+4But Germany is getting famous for solar panels. There should be a sentence or two about that connection. This seems to be more about the pig car than about technological promise.
- shauncullen, on 10/13/2008, -0/+4What about details? How much will it cost to charge at one of these stations? How many cars will the station be able to charge at one time? It would be neat to have a self sustained station with solar panels on the roof, and huge batteries filling the space left from the gas pumps, and when the cars aren't charging it pumps it back into the grid, and when a bunch of cars are charging it draws from the grid. You could make these stations fairly economical that way and still be completely green. A nominal fee for those that charge, and get reimbursed from the traditional power companies.
- fedja, on 10/13/2008, -0/+3Replaceable generic-type power cells? That's how household gas was distributed for 60 years.
- mgbuddy, on 10/13/2008, -1/+4This is Berlin, not whole Germany...
That means that you cannot do that on, lets say, Chicago?
And also, yeah, the cost to put powerlines across a big country like the States is huge...
What a luck those pesky Europeans with so small countries that they can have electric light everywhere... - BlaqReaper, on 10/13/2008, -0/+3You actually brought up a really good point with how many cars can be charged at one time. Actually don't electric cars take a couple of hours to fully charge? I'm all for electric cars, but how is a power-point going to handle this?
- RyIvan, on 10/13/2008, -0/+3I believe his point is that while these cars run on electricity, and that is a GOOD thing. But if this electricity is generated by a coal power plant or something, makes it kind of redundant.
- slide23, on 10/13/2008, -0/+3While I don't exactly like Obama, I dislike McCain even more. It seems that all the people that I know that are voting for McCain just keep spewing more propaganda every day and buy into it whole hog. Every time they say things that are obviously hate filled just prompts me to get more and more people to vote for Obama. Ignorance and Hate are 2 of the things in this life I can not stand. That, it seems, is whats left of the McCain supporters though.
- mojoe1185, on 10/13/2008, -0/+3I think you mean several hundred thousand engines.
Motor is electric buddy. :) - AlienMushroom, on 10/13/2008, -0/+3Aren't Daimler and Smart the same crowd?
- inactive, on 10/13/2008, -0/+3Are you truly worried about "congestion" in a power plant or battery factory? Like everyone is going to be bumping into everyone? You may have mixed up some of your contrarian terminology, there.
- carlosos, on 10/13/2008, -0/+2How expensive can it be to provide electricity to a certain point?
Almost everyone has electricity in the USA, right? That means that infrastructure to support electric cars is almost there. All that is needed is a billing system for electricity that isn't consumed at home. - wunksta, on 10/13/2008, -0/+2haha oh wow
- carlosos, on 10/13/2008, -0/+2Germany does this in a big city as a first step. New York City as a population density more than twice that of Berlin but you don't see that build there.
This is really just a small step in the right direction. I just hope that the auto industry can agree on a electric refueling standard so that you don't need adapters for every country or every car. - korvan504521, on 10/13/2008, -1/+3No, they're about to go under because their factories are burdened with horrific union agreements.
Do you know that if they want to downsize a factory because, hey, they can't sell that kind of car anymore, they have to pay everyone there to be retrained?
If my company wants to get rid of me, they just have to pay me for two weeks and then call security. - phreak79, on 10/13/2008, -0/+2Alas, quite old though. Found this in the IHT from 5th September.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/09/05/business ... - BlaqReaper, on 10/13/2008, -2/+4*electricity
electric is an adjective.
Also, why do you think electric is stupid? Cheaper than gas, makes no pollution, runs silently. Other than maybe being an inconvenience to recharge the car (Berlin is working on that) there is really no downside at all. - mingscians, on 10/13/2008, -1/+3congratulation. we will be become independent from oil
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