I was listening to This Week in Tech on the way home from work today, and Calacanis was talking about his new Tesla, the electric sports car. He compared it to a religious experience knowing you can drive and have "almost no environmental impact."
He says that a charge for the 250-mile range costs about $4 in electricity, and given the efficiencies even of a coal power plant compared to gas, that's a really big deal. Even better if you get some of your power via nuclear power. Granted, that car is $110,000, but if Tesla is able to follow through with a $50,000 car, then the $30,000, that's a really big deal.
Obviously there's the whole issue about economy of scale as the barrier to bringing down the price, but it's an important first step. Battery tech keeps getting better, and virtually all of the components of the batteries can be reclaimed as well. Again, economy of scale is the issue there.
We're just getting so damn close to making some meaningful progress on this issue! Other exciting things include a report today that a silicon shortage today is causing problems in the solar market, but a huge surplus will drive its cost way down in the next two years.
I feel like things are in a shitty state right now, but it seems like we're getting somewhere at the same time. I just wish Toyota could get that plug-in hybrid to market sooner, but they insist it's just not ready for the '09 Prius.
In other news, just getting my tires inflated correctly has boosted my fuel economy back up to 37 mpg, and thank God at $3.75 a gallon. I've never replaced the spark plugs, so that's next on the list, hopefully to eek out another fraction of a mile per gallon.
Now if only I could telecommute a day or two a week!
Calacanis also said he has solar panels on his house to charge the thing. Maybe if they are correct, in a few years (i think they were estimating 2-3 for the 50k version and 4-5 for the 30k version) it might not be too out-of-the-question to actually consider purchasing one of these AND the solar panels to charge for "free"
Him being in LA and RICH makes it a no brainer for him to install solar panels at his house. I am shocked that more people in southern Cali don't have solar panels, it seems so obvious if you can afford them. Imagine if all the new homes in Phoenix were installed with solar... they missed the boat there.