Schwarzenegger Signs Bill Expanding Access to HOV Lanes

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill, AB 1500 (Lieu), which will allow new low-emission vehicles -- primarily electric vehicles -- access to HOV lanes throughout California no matter how many occupants are riding in the vehicle.

This is good news for Nissan, which plans to release the all-electric Nissan Leaf later this year. The fact that commuters driving a Leaf will be able to drive in California's 1,300 miles of HOV lanes will certainly be a selling point.

A separate California bill, SB 535, would allow plug-in hybrids such as a possible 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid and electric cars with range-extending gasoline engines (such as the 2011 Chevrolet Volt) to access the HOV lanes regardless of passengers. That bill has not yet passed.

Read more here.

John Corcoran is an Associate with Plastiras & Terrizzi law firm in San Rafael, California (Marin County). He advises clients on various small business matters including clean tech and renewable energy, real estate, and general civil litigation. He may be reached at jcorcoran@ptlegal.com or (415) 472-8100 x211.

What Comes Next After the iPhone Gold Rush?

Ethan Nicholas spent six weeks last summer working on an application for the iPhone on the evenings and over weekends. In October, he released the app – a simple first-person shooter game – for $4.99. In the five months since it was released, Nicholas has made $800,000.

Todd Moore, a network administrator in the Washington, DC, area, developed his own iPhone app after buying his first Mac early last year. He quit his day job after he started making more money in one week than he had been making in four months.

The makers of a software program for the iPhone called “iFart” have been raking in about $1,000 a day with a program that – how do I put this gently? – makes farting sounds.

It some circles, it's beginning to sound more like 1999 – the era of dot com's and IPO's -- than it does 2009, the era of bailouts and diving stock market prices.

In spite of what’s happening in the world at large, excitement around the iPhone development market has some people around Silicon Valley buzzing. The New York Times stoked the frenzy this weekend by publishing “The iPhone Gold Rush,” which chronicled the iPhone hysteria. The hype has gotten so extreme, even corporate lawyers are getting into the act, giving up big paychecks for the promise of another payday.

I have no doubt the iPhone mania will continue to grow. However, some are already turning their attention to the next platform which could lead to the next gold rush, a field which could be just as big (dare I say bigger than?) as the iPhone.

I’m talking about dashboards.

Huh?

Before you rush to download your ipitchfork and burn me at the istake for iheresy, let me explain.

Last night, I had the privilege of attending the Tesla Model S northern California debut party, held at the company’s sprawling Menlo Park sales and assembly offices.

Around 300 Tesla owners and Tesla wannabe owners (I include myself in the latter) gathered to feel, touch, and ride in the new Model S sedan.

Although I had been excited for the unveiling of the Model S due to its promise of becoming the first real, practical mass-market zero-emission vehicle, once the actual vehicle was released, I found myself actually more fascinated with the car’s touchscreen dashboard.

If you haven’t seen it, the dashboard is beautiful. Where some carmakers place a jumble of buttons and knobs sits a gleaming, 17-inch haptic touchscreen LCD display, which controls all of the car’s functions. The touchscreen features always-on high-speed 3G internet connection, Google maps, streaming radio, and completely digital climate controls.

Even though I thought Tesla did a masterful job in developing the touchscreen dashboard, I couldn’t help but think what was possible if Tesla were to open up that interface to outside developers, as Apple has done with the iPhone.

As Apple has recently discovered with its iPhone app store, even a wildly creative company can’t compete with the limitless creativity of a worldwide audience when you open up your platform to the world.

Unfortunately, after the sedan first debuted, I didn’t know if Tesla even intended to open up the interface. All I had were a few subtle indications from various sources regarding the company’s plans for the touchscreen.

In a short video posted by Steve Jurvetson documenting his first ride in the vehicle (see video below), Tesla CEO Elon Musk is seen saying that he “had people writing app’s for the car.” He later implied in an interview that they would open up the interface to outside developers, saying “Maybe other people will develop applications for it." But I still wasn’t sure if Tesla truly intended to allow all outside developers to develop their own programs, or if Tesla would control the process.

At the party, I seized the opportunity to get an answer from Musk himself. I told the Tesla leader that I’d heard his comment in the video and was wondering if it was true that he planned to open up the interface to outside developers. He confirmed that Tesla did in fact intend to open up the dashboard to outside developers. He went on to say that the screen could be configured to a driver’s liking, and that the computer running the dashboard would be Linux-based. He suggested that consumers may even be able to watch YouTube videos on their displays in the future.

I believe that Tesla is incredibly savvy to open up the interface to outside developers. Like Apple, Tesla will benefit from the amazing wealth of talent that will come forward to develop new and innovative uses for a dashboard computer in a car - uses which one company operating alone could never anticipate.

Today, consumers are buying iPhones not just for the groundbreaking device itself, but to take advantage of the many innovative app’s which have been developed which run on the phone. As a result, Apple is profiting off others' innovation and creativity. Tesla may similarly benefit.

Developers, start your engines.

Latest Green Vehicle on the Market: The "Peapod"

Greenbiz.com reports that the latest green vehicle to come to market is the new all-electric "Peapod." A product of Peapod Motors, a spinoff from Chrysler, the vehicle has clearly been designed for the ipod loving masses - with a simple, clean design.

The Peapod doesn't look like your everyday car, and it doesn't strive to be an everyday car. The car has been designed "in line with typical driving conditions and city planning trends that are heading more and more towards slower, smaller spaces," reports Greenbiz.com. The car was also built with the goal of requiring very limited maintance and longevity.

The car is classified as a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle, meaning the car only goes up to 25 miles per hour.

Click here for the full article.

Car startups need to rev up for revolution

(This article is reprinted from the July 25th, 2008 issue of the SF Business Times)

When Al Gore unveiled his challenge last week to move the U.S. to one hundred percent renewable power within 10 years, he made the car industry a key element of his proposal.

There’s good reason why. With the entire U.S. economy being weighed down by skyrocketing gas prices, Gore recognized that relief from the climate crisis, our national security crises, and U.S. job losses depends on moving the nation away from cars that run off fossil fuels, and toward electric or plug-in cars. He recognizes a new revolution in U.S. motorcars is necessary to cure the ills of the last.

The timing is fitting. October 1st will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the car that started it all: the first Ford Model T. Henry Ford’s groundbreaking new vehicle had a top speed of 45 MPH, and got about the same mileage as a modern day SUV, 13-21 miles per gallon. Debuting at $825, it was no bargain for workers earning an average of $2 per day.

Ford famously set his sights on lowering the cost and increasing production of his new horseless carriage through assembly line improvements. Within five years, Model T output went from 1,000 in its first year of production to more than 300,000 cars per year, with the cost of the car dropping to a low of $260 in 1924.

Though Gore envisioned that a new golden era of the automobile powered by electricity was achievable within a decade, strong evidence suggests that this revolution is already under way. And like much innovation over the past century, a lot of that innovation is occurring here in the Bay Area.

Tesla Motorcars, which opens its Menlo Park showroom on Tuesday and is based in San Carlos, is already in production on the “it car” of the moment, the all-electric $100,000 Roadster. Fisker Automotive, based in Irvine, California, plans to release a $80,000 four-door plug-in sports car in 2010 with a backup fuel tank that they suggest may only need be refueled once a year.

A Norway-based company called Th!nk which has backing from Menlo Park-based venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins plans to release a $30,000 all electric two-seater in the U.S. in 2009. If the lust-inducing Tesla is an automotive Gisele Bundchen, then the Th!nk is a spunky and precocious Hannah Montana.

A company called Project Better Place out of Palo Alto has proposed ambitious plans to set up recharging stations where electric cars could swap out battery packs quickly and get back on the road. The plan, modeled after cell phone contracts, would give consumers lower up front costs in exchange for monthly contract payments.

“The transportation industry is undergoing its largest transformation since Henry Ford built the model T,” said Ray Lane, a Kleiner Perkins managing partner and investor in Th!nk and Fisker Automotive.

Like Ford’s original revolution, this one won’t come easy or cheap. And early adopters will pay a premium that will enable others to follow. But increased production of these revolutionary green cars – just as with the Ford Model T – will drive down the costs per car and put them within reach of the masses.

Tesla, for example, has plans to produce 10,000 of its next model sedan at nearly half the cost of the Roadster within two years. And Fisker recently announced that they would produce 15,000 of its new eco-friendly car in their first year of production.

Five dollar per gallon gasoline alone won’t be enough to ensure these companies’ success. They will need to produce cars that are safe, reliable, and able to travel long distances on occasion. And most importantly, they’ll need to do it all in spades. If these companies hope to fulfill their promised intentions of helping reduce our impact on climate change and dependence on foreign oil then it will take more than delivering a handful of six-figure trophy cars to the super-rich.

The climate is right for a new American revolution in motorcars. Today’s modern car revolutionaries have a head start and a huge opportunity. The market is waiting.