Wake Up. There’s A New Electric Car Revolution

February 2010 may go down as the month which started the new electric car revolution.
The revolution has started quite appropriately in Japan in the Far East with a joint venture with giant car makers Nissan and Renault joining forces with the All Japan Ryokan Association (AJRA) who will promote and install electric car charging facilities in their 18,000 hotels.
Let us take a moment of reflection here and consider this development, Nissan and Renault are now said to have now signed a deal to have their electric cars and electric car charging facilities in 18,000 hotels within Japan alone.
The AJRA will also jointly be promoting the development of travel packages within their member hotels and raising the profile of environment friendly transport with links to accommodation and selected tours involving sales promotions and test drive events which is a huge advancement in one country only.
This scheme could be replicated in the hotel industry in any country to have their guests move from one location to another within their group so assisting hotel occupation, promotion, and aiding the local tourist industry while all the time advancing the cause of eco-friendly transport without damage to the environment.
All large organisations involved would be able to publicise their own chain of charging facilities and have these locations integrated into local, area, and national maps for further promotion.
To date this venture involving Nissan-Renault is the only one publicised but no doubt the parties will have been moving ahead elsewhere with others.
If this movement were to be expanded to a world wide scale it could prove to be the turning point for the electric car industry and full credit should be paid to Nissan-Renault, there are unlimited opportunities worldwide for similar partnerships.
A possible future scenario could be the giant supermarkets having their own fleets of eco-friendly vehicles for local deliveries by their own drivers, or similarly for non-car owners to engage in short term hire from supermarkets; in all cases there could be opportunities for advertising revenue to be earned through vehicles continually being on the road.
With the spread of large numbers of environment friendly vehicles countrywide it is also possible it could lead to changes in the law for in-town traffic.
The current Park-and-Ride town/city traffic system could be changed to permit those drivers who have an urgent need to have vehicle access to town/city centres to park their own cars and continue their journey in electric vehicles. The result of most people using eco-friendly public transport to access town centres would be a huge reduction in in-town traffic numbers and a much improved climate with carbon gas emissions minimised.
To celebrate their success I would now expect Nissan and Renault execs to be charging their glasses in addition to their cars!
Bill Williams
www.thecarhub.net
12/Feb/ 10, 1225 GMT