Slashdot Mirror
Australia Developing Massive Electric Vehicle Grid
blairerickson writes "A US firm Thursday unveiled plans to build a massive one-billion-dollar charging network to power electric cars in Australia as it seeks cleaner and cheaper options to petrol. Better Place, which has built plug-in stations for electric vehicles in Israel and Denmark, has joined forces with Australian power company AGL and finance group Macquarie Capital to create an Australian network. Under the plan, the three cities will each have a network of between 200,000 and 250,000 charge stations by 2012 where drivers can plug in and power up their electric cars. The points would probably be at homes and businesses, car parks and shopping centres. In addition, 150 switch stations will be built in each city and on major freeways, where electric batteries can be automatically replaced in drive-in stations similar to a car wash." I hope they're talking to the car companies about the necessary standardization it would take to make this work, too.
envisioned that as a massive electric bump car grid.
I agree - however its a shame a smart aussie David Mills had to travel to the US to implement his solar technolgy. Schwarzenegger this week opened on a 5-megawatt Ausra (Australian technology) solar thermal plant near Bakersfield, California. However Ausra has also built a 1.5MW solar plant to add to the Macquarie Energy Liddell coal power station in the New South Wales Hunter Valley that has just been commissioned. Apparently there are plans to build 175MW plants in the US However given the huge uranium resources we have and how anal Australia is with regulation and safety I am still frustrated that we do not use nuclear power - it always comes down to an election issue praying on misinformed and emotionally charged voters. But hey we have millions of square kms or miles of red dirt perfect for solar plants but it all comes down to $$$ As for the electric car charging idea - I havent heard shite about that.