Maybe someday we’ll have this in Rhode Island … a girl can dream, can’t she?
The Atlantic‘s nifty Cities page has a brief item up about San Diego’s push for increased electric car usage. The new initiative came together in early 2011 via a seemingly too-good-to-be-true collaboration between the utility companies, the local government, university research departments, and clean energy non-profits. It’s the stuff of Davos dreams, except that it appears to have actually worked. In November, San Diego introduced its fleet of 300 electric vehicles available for short term rental. The program works very similar to ZipCar in that vehicles are available on an hourly basis, able to be picked up and returned at various charging stations throughout the city. The stations draw solar power from photovoltaic cells and connect to a localized grid infrastructure. Keep those shopping excursions minimal, though: many of the small “fortwo” [sic] vehicles only have enough room for a driver, a passenger, and maybe a bag of groceries.
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Kmareka.com 
I want one now. It’s so cute.
This is just to call attention to the idea that there has always beem some divergence of opinion in the environmental world bout the potential and impact for “efficient” cars. While these electric cars can indeed reduce emissions per mile, they still need (paved) parking, add to congestion, contribute to wildlife “roadkills” and for short trips, undermine attempts to build a critical mass for better biking and better transit, and if their range were extended, their lower operating cotsts can encourage longer commutes and add to pressure for more sprawl. Further, electric cars add to pressure for more nuclear and natural gas fracking to supply the electricity.
That said, I can see a niche for such electric cars as zip-car type rentals when needed for folks who live in downtown locations where parking is very limited (the redeveloped Arcade for example?) who can usually but not always get along without a car.
Barry, you’re absolutely right.
However, let’s not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Don’t make light of positive steps, however small, or however tentative. We’re turning an ocean liner here. It takes time and a myriad of increments.
And the commutes we have now–in virtually every urban area–is already very long. 60-90 minutes is not all that unusual. Ask anyone who lives on the fringe of metro Boston and works downtown. And right now people are doing it in their mobile living room, spewing fossil fuels as they idle in traffic.
Any step in the right direction is a good thing. Every step is a good thing.,
This sort of vehicle is really all most of us need for about 80% of most people’s driving–long commutes excepted. Except those can be done with better infrastructure, and cute little vehicles like this will get us to the train station.
There will be no mass break-up of the suburbs for a generation or more, so people are not going to stop driving in favor of an urbanized, pedestrian lifestyle anytime soon. So greater use of this sort of vehicle would be a huge improvement over the status quo.