Archive for September, 2010
Voila! EVs for the masses!
Cars and the NYTimes
Ok, so maybe cars and Tom Friedman and Henry Ford 2nd.
Sunday’s Times featured an excellent column by Friedman. I know I’m constantly referencing him, but the guy’s won three Pulitzers. Anyway, his latest has to do with electric cars, as in banking on them. And who does he quote? Shai Agassi of Better Place and Kevin Czinger of Coda Automotive. Both companies I’m proud to say were represented on the panel of the Washington Auto Show’s Green Car Summit on electrification in the auto industry. Here’s a shot of the panelists in the beautiful Caucus Room of the Cannon House Office Building last year.
Here’s the column: http://tinyurl.com/283ju4v
Meanwhile, the Times also had an interesting section devoted to celebrating the 40th anniversary of the op/ed page. For the occasion, the paper highlighted some remarkable comments over the years, including this very prescient quote by Henry Ford 2nd more than 30 years ago. Enjoy:
Op-Ed Contributor
Nov. 28, 1973: Life With Cars
By HENRY FORD 2
Published: September 25, 2010
Even before the Arab oil embargo, policymakers and editorial writers were concluding that one part of the solution to the energy crisis, the environmental crisis and the urban crisis is to build mass transit with highway funds and to persuade drivers to walk, ride bicycles or take a train.
New car sales in the United States, on the other hand, have increased by more than a million a year during the past two model years. Nearly one-third of all American families now own at least two cars, and 95 percent of all urban traveling is done by car.
Cars and mass transit are both here to stay, but neither one is the best possible answer to the important travel needs of today’s cities. For all its flexibility, the car is not the most efficient way to get to or move around in very busy places. For all its efficiency in carrying large numbers of people along busy corridors, mass transit is not flexible enough.
What we need are new kinds of vehicles and systems designed to carry people quickly, conveniently and efficiently where neither cars nor conventional transit can do the job as well. As these new systems are developed and built, cars will become more useful than ever because they will be used where they work best.
The preceding was excerpted and adapted from a previously published Op-Ed article, for inclusion in a 40th-anniversary issue.
Grid-tastic
This just in: GM and Better Place have announced a partnership to advance the EV dream.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20017233-501465.html
In other news, GM and ABB are working on ways to find new life on the grid for old Chevy Volt batteries.
http://gigaom.com/cleantech/gm-abb-seek-chevy-volt-battery-afterlife-in-grid/
And while we’re on EVs, did you hear? Coda Automotive, whose CEO, Kevin Czinger, spoke at the 2010 Washington Auto Show Green Car Summit on Capitol Hill, has announced the price on its 2011 sedan: $45k:
Planet Time
Captain Planet turned 20 last week. But the birthday party is only just beginning.
Laura Turner Seydel, who chairs the Captain Planet Foundation, just e-blasted her mailing list with the invite for the group’s annual winter bash, which will toast 20 years of Planet.
Check out the artwork with Ted revealing his superhero identity à la Clark Kent:
Pomerance & Associates got a sneak peek at the festivities.
Planet actually shares his birthday with our office superhero — Bonnie (see previous post). So last week, we attended a private party for Planet’s actual anniversary.
A phantasmagoria of delights, I’ll let the pictures do the talking. But essentially, we’re talking fabulous, as in, gay pride parades could learn from this party.
Happy Birthday, Bonnie!!!
Today marks the birthday of our beloved colleague, Bonnie Morét!
We believe in celebrating as much as possible, so we started toasting Bonnie on Monday. Literally.
How amazing do those look? It’s like Lilly Pulitzer come to life. And, by the way, they’re delish.
Bonnie has a flair for art and beauty and food, so she managed the photo shoot of our drinks.
And I did the long-arm stretch to take us. Yes, that’s how long my arms are.
That evening Atlanta had San Diego weather, which is to say perfect. So we sat on Nava’s patio and enjoyed drinks, guac and the soft Southwestern guitar music pumped through the speakers.
As I said, Bonnie’s artistic, so she tinkered with the photo to warm it up:
This way, we get the full Western effect.
Thank you, Bonnie, for sharing your wonderful gifts with Pomerance & Associates: your joyful presence, devotion to work and friendship and fabulous zest for life!
We love you, Bon!