San Fran Goes Electric

Reports of the electric car's death may have been greatly exaggerated, at least if San Francisco officials have anything to do with it. Mayor Gavin Newsom is apparently in talks with the Silicon Valley startup Project Better Place about building a city-wide network of charging stations, similar to those being created in Israel and Denmark.

Electric vehicle advocates are hailing the move as a giant leap forward for the cause, if it does indeed occur. But Newsom has had a decent success rate in meeting eco-friendly objectives, including reaching a 70 percent recycling rate in the city, the highest in the country. Most of the city's electricity comes from natural gas, nuclear power and renewable sources like wind and geothermal energy. There are even talks of changing zoning regulations to allow for backyard wind turbines.

The infrastructure won't mean much without the cars. But those are on the way too - Nissan plans to bring the cars to California by 2010, and other automakers are hot on its heels to develop electric cars that will meet California's stringent zero-emission vehicle mandate.

(Photo by Josh Bancroft)