Wednesday, June 28, 2006

An All-Electric Car That Accelerates Faster Than a Ferrari

TechReview's post on 'An All-Electric Car That Accelerates Faster Than a Ferrari' writes how Silicon Valley is shifting towards becoming a centre for researching and developing electric cars - a re-invention of Silicon Valley?

"Silicon Valley thinks it can do what Detroit could not -- create a thriving business selling electric cars. In the 1990s, General Motors and other automakers spent billions to develop battery-powered vehicles, but they flopped because most couldn't travel more than 100 miles before having to recharge.

By tapping the Bay Area's engineering expertise and culture of innovation, a cluster of entrepreneurs, engineers and venture capitalists here are racing to bring their own electric cars to market. But unlike the Detroit and Japanese automakers, they're working on high-performance sports cars for wealthy car enthusiasts.

At least three Silicon Valley startups -- Tesla Motors of San Carlos, Wrightspeed Inc. of Woodside and battery maker Li-on Cells of Menlo Park -- are among a small cadre of companies nationwide developing electric cars or components."

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