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Venture Capitalism To the Rescue

Posted by kdawson on from the doing-well-by-doing-good dept.

theodp writes "Al Gore, Bill Joy, and a Norwegian cutie — a TH!NK open electric car — grace the cover of the latest NYT Magazine, which asks: Can the venture capitalists at Kleiner Perkins reduce our dependence on oil, help stop global warming, and make a lot of money at the same time? While Kleiner Perkins — which funded Genentech, Netscape, Google and others — has a number of other green-tech bets, a partner says its goal is 'to make a lot of money for our investors,' not to save the environment."

3 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. Electric Cars ... the Silent Killer by hattig · · Score: 5, Funny

    Imagine driving on a warm summer night with the wind blowing through your hair and hearing nothing but the sounds of nature.

    Imagine crossing the road on a warm summer night, a gentle breeze blowing through your hair and hearing nothing but the sounds of nature ... and then: BAM! Hit by an electric car."

    There are some small electric cars in London, they're eerily silent.

    Just to clarify, I do think that this is a good technology and it is the future, but I am sure that there will be accidents because the cars are silent.

    1. Re:Electric Cars ... the Silent Killer by dvice_null · · Score: 2, Funny

      I've heard of many cars where dominating noise at low speeds sounds something like this "Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, ...". You can hear it clearly even when the car is stopped at traffic lights.

    2. Re:Electric Cars ... the Silent Killer by pjt33 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I saw a slot on the BBC regional news for East Anglia about 2 months ago about a project to make electric cars louder, precisely for the safety of pedestrians and cyclists. They were going with the obvious solution: fit loudspeakers at the front of the car, and play a recording of an internal combustion engine.