According to an article published in Reuters, Houston is aiming to be the electric car capital of the United States:

Cities like Houston and San Francisco are forging partnerships with automakers and power companies to make the vision a reality.

In Houston, for instance, Japanese-based Nissan Motor Co Ltd has signed a deal where the city and power provider Reliant, a unit of NRG Energy Inc, will build a handful of public-charging stations to allow electric car drivers to recharge their cars.

Nissan has signed agreements with other cities like San Diego, Seattle and Orlando and states like Tennessee and Oregon to ensure that public-charging stations are built.

Such agreements are key to easing skeptical consumers’ fears of running out of juice if their car batteries run low before they can reach their garage charging stations. [source]

I guess it makes sense- especially since Houston, TX is one of the largest U.S. cities. But will people only be driving electric cars in big cities like Houston? Looking at electric cars and how they function, one would almost think that the only places in which they would even be remotely practical would be in big cities. The real draw for manufacturers of electric cars would be seen in the day when everyday people can drive across several states without having to worry about their electric charge running out because they have no place to ‘plug in’.

Tags: auto, auto news // 1 Comment »