Archive for September, 2010

Voila! EVs for the masses!

“This year’s Paris auto show will mark the start of the electric-vehicle era as global automakers unveil EVs aimed at the mass market,” writes Paul McVeigh for Automotive News Europe. 
Barbara Pomerance, the CEO of our company, is in Paris with The Washington Auto Show® delegation to take in the news firsthand. So we will be offering some insight about what’s hot from Paris, where 100 world debuts are slated for the show press days, which start tomorrow.
Until then, the Washington group has enjoyed a private tour of Paris’ City Hall and attended the reception hosted by the North American International Auto Show. That’s official for Detroit.
 
Meanwhile, we can take virtual part in the joie de vivre. Enjoy this snapshot Barbara sent today from the aptly named City of Lights:

The Arc de Triomphe

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.

The man speaking is Scott Becker, Sr. Vice President, Administration & Finance of Nissan North America Inc. To the right of Becker is Kevin Czinger, CEO of Coda Automotive. All the way to the right is Jason Wolf, VP of Better Place.

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

The trouble with cars, to adapt the old saying, is that you can’t live with them or without them. We in Detroit are told that we produce an extravagant luxury that can no longer be tolerated. We are admonished, on the other hand, not to push up the price of one of life’s necessities.
 

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. 

HENRY FORD 2nd was the chairman of Ford Motor Company from 1945 to 1980. He died in 1987. 

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:

 http://green.autoblog.com/category/coda-automotive/

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.

You may remember Captain Planet’s Planeteers: Five plucky teens each endowed with a power — fire, water, earth, wind and spirit — to combat the evil forces that would destroy our planet. As you can see, fire and water make a fantastic couple.

They looked so good in fact that I had to pose with them:

And also with Earth —

Notice she looks amazingly sexy, and I’ve dribbled my drink on my shirt.

Captain Planet’s creator, Barbara Pyle, who was TBS’ corporate V.P. of environmental policy for 20 years, glammed out as well for the occasion:

 Yes, those boots are turqoise. amazing.

Cameras were all aflutter as the foundation’s chair and president, Laura Turner Seydel and Ira Blumenthal, respectively, took the floor with Captain Planet.

Happy Birthday, Captain Planet! Here’s to the next 20!

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.

Prickly Pear Margaritas at Nava

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:

Here we are in sepia

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!