This panel discussion at the Brookings/Google.org Plug-In Vehicles 2008 conference on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 focused on the real-world barriers facing the mass adoption of plug-in electric vehicles. While Felix Kramer of CalCars is highly optimistic, as he stated “we will see an explosion of plug-in cars between 2010 and 2012,” Alan Madian of LECG … Read more
As the author of the 2005 Clear Act that provides incentives for hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) clearly understands and articulates clean energy independence. After knuckle bumping Brookings’ conference chair David Sandalow as he took the stage at the start of the second and final day of the conference, Senator Hatch … Read more
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) began his remarks with a comparison between Ross Perot’s first claim to fame and fortune (utilizing unused bank computer time after hours to manage Medicade data) with the unused electrical capacity that is presently available on the grid each and every night. This unused electrical capacity holds remarkable potential … the … Read more
Jim Woolsey, of Vantage Point Venture Partners (and formerly the head of the CIA) got the conference off to a roaring start in the opening session, as he remarked that “spending hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars every year for oil, much of it from the Middle East, is just about the … Read more
Vijay Vaitheeswaran co-author of Zoom, and corresponent for The Economist, moderated the first panel of the conference marvelously. A world filled with electric vehicles might seem like blue sky to many, but certainly not to the members of the panel, with whom it is an inevitability, as the term blue sky retakes its literal meaning. … Read more