Yesterday, Better Place announced its plans to build an electric vehicle network in California.
http://www.betterplace.com/california
This comes at a time of crisis for the auto industry in Detroit. Yesterday, Michael Moritz of the FT described the importance of not bailing out the failed industry. He calls the United States, a nation in denial over the last thirty years. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d09dfebe-b729-11dd-8e01-0000779fd18c.html
The rest of the world has been developing vehicles with better mileage, whereas we have produced growing numbers of SUVs and trucks. In 1999, for example, while we luxuriated in $1.26 for a gallon of petrol, Germans were paying $3.62 and the Japanese $3.26. No wonder we are way behind now.
If Obama makes the right calls, there's hope for the future even if we suffer in the short term. Do you think he can risk taking on Detroit's unions and deal a blow to the union movement? That seems to be the largest challenge to his democratic base, but perhaps he can drive in the point that the current business model is just untenable and can find some way to support or re-train people who may lose jobs. Can Obama allow the free market to catalyze the transition to cleaner energy or will it require a New Deal to invest in alternative energy and a GI Bill to support education and retraining for those losing jobs from the 'old' auto indsustry?
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