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San Francisco has adopted building codes requiring all new
homes and offices to be wired for electric car chargers, in
an attempt to position itself as America's green car capital.
The move comes in advance of the release this year of the
Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt, which promise to deliver driving
distances of 40 miles or more on a single battery charge and
are being marketed to middle-class families.
Local authorities are launching a lending scheme next month
to encourage homeowners to install their own charging stations.
"If you want to put an electric charging station in your home
in anticipation of all these electric vehicles, you can do
it through this green financing programme," said San Francisco's
mayor, Gavin Newsom.
Newsom bought his own electric car a decade ago and car charging
stations were installed outside city hall last year.
The move further solidifies California's reputation as America's
greenest state. Over the past 30 years, it has led the country
in putting limits on vehicle emissions and imposing higher
efficiency standards for homes and appliances such as flatscreen
TVs.
Few people are predicting widespread adoption of electric
cars by Americans - at least in the immediate future. However,
the launch of the electric vehicles is also concentrating
minds in other cities - such as Houston, San Diego and Portland,
Oregon - which are expected to lead demand for the new technology.
Urban planners and electricity companies there are beginning
to make preparations, with charging stations as well as contingency
planning in case an ageing electrical supply grid is overloaded.
"I have talked to energy executives who are very fearful
about what will happen even if you get past 1,000 vehicles,"
said Terry Tamminen, who advises California's governor, Arnold
Schwarzenegger, on energy and environment. "People can't
be trusted to charge only at night and discharge in the day."
San Francisco's main supplier - Pacific Gas & Electric
(PGE)
- is sketching out 'heat maps' of neighbourhoods at
risk of overloads or blackouts when suburban motorists begin
plugging in their cars. It can take eight hours, drawing only
on regular power supply, to charge up an electric car, though
dedicated charging stations take only a fraction of that time.
The forward planning in such cities runs counter to the steadily
accumulating evidence in Washington that Barack Obama's efforts
to green America's economy is sputtering to a halt.
There is also scepticism that Obama will be able to deliver
on his promise to put 1m electric vehicles on the road by
2015. However, beyond Washington, a number of American cities
and states are driving ahead. Nissan's president, Carlos Ghosn,
has predicted that as many as 10% of sales will be electric
vehicles by 2020.
Most of those new cars are expected to be clustered in a
few cities to make it easier to supply dealerships and repair
centres and northern California motorists have already demonstrated
a taste for driving green.
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