Re: Inviting BetterPlace out for a CESC presentation

[Bruce England]

Hello Steve and transport working group. The recent news about Better Place (betterplace.com) is very interesting on the electric vehicle front (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2042000120081120)! In addition to what they've worked out with San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland, they are also actively discussing what might be done in Palo Alto with Council members and staff.

Jason Wolf (jason...@betterplace.com), who handles all California Projects, would be happy to present for us at (per my suggestion) a Council Environmental Sustainability Committee meeting, and he estimates taking about a half hour to do it.

Steve, can you advise what we might do to make this happen or if you have any questions, suggestions, etc. ahead of time?

Thanks, and bye for now,
Bruce E

[James Kempf]

Hi Bruce,

I think this is a great idea. Maybe someone can talk to Rohnit about whether it might be possible? Shirley mentioned to me that Rohnit is also investigating what happened to all the electric vehicle recharging points that were put in by the city in the late 70's and early 80's.

            jak

[Bruce England]

Yep, James, that sounds like a good idea. I'll see what Steve says about the presentation first and then spread the word as needed.
By the way, for future reference, her name is spelled Ronit.
Bye for now!
Bruce

[Cliff Chambers]

Excellent Bruce...as a number of us said, the most important stuff
will happen AFTER the report is done, and this is a good case in
point. I plan to read more about this over the weekend.

Thanks for the follow through!

Cliff

On Nov 25, 7:16 pm, Bruce England <bkengl...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Yep, James, that sounds like a good idea. I'll see what Steve says about the presentation first and then spread the word as needed.
> By the way, for future reference, her name is spelled Ronit.
> Bye for now!
> Bruce
>
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: James Kempf <kemp...@yahoo.com>
> >Sent: Nov 25, 2008 8:58 PM
> >To: mv-sust-task-for...@googlegroups.com
> >Subject: Re: Inviting BetterPlace out for a CESC presentation
>
> >Hi Bruce,
>
> >I think this is a great idea. Maybe someone can talk to Rohnit about whether it might be possible? Shirley mentioned to me that Rohnit is also investigating what happened to all the electric vehicle recharging points that were put in by the city in the late 70's and early 80's.
>
> >            jak
>
> >----- Original Message ----
> >From: Bruce England <bkengl...@earthlink.net>
> >To: mvenvtransport <mv-sust-task-for...@googlegroups.com>; MVenvSteveAttinger <Steve.Attin...@mountainview.gov>
> >Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 3:36:51 PM
> >Subject: Re: Inviting BetterPlace out for a CESC presentation
>

> >Hello Steve and transport working group. The recent news about Better Place (betterplace.com) is very interesting on the electric vehicle front (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2042000120081120)!In addition to what they've worked out with San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland, they are also actively discussing what might be done in Palo Alto with Council members and staff.
>
> >Jason Wolf (jason.w...@betterplace.com), who handles all California Projects, would be happy to present for us at (per my suggestion) a Council Environmental Sustainability Committee meeting, and he estimates taking about a half hour to do it.

[Attinger, Steve]

Hi Bruce,

Thanks for the info and suggestion. This is exciting news!

I haven't studied this in detail yet, but you can pursue this on two
fronts if you'd like. You can contact Joan to discuss this, since she's
the Transportation Manager. I will discuss it with her, but suggest you
contact her directly. Second, you can contact the CESC council members
and propose to add "Jason" to the agenda at some point, since they
control the agenda. They welcome input from community members.

Hope that answers your questions, and thanks for the heads up on this
Bruce!

Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce England [mailto:bken...@earthlink.net]
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 3:37 PM
To: mvenvtransport; Attinger, Steve
Subject: Re: Inviting BetterPlace out for a CESC presentation

[Bruce England]

Thahks, Steve, and I will certainly do that.
Bye for now!
Bruce

[Bruce England]

Hello Joan and CESC councilmembers:

Per Steve's recommendation, I'd like to ask for an agenda addition for a presentation from Jason Wolf of Better Place. Better Place has been in the news of late related to their plans to develop a network of electric vehicle recharging and battery exchange stations starting with San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose (for some details in the news, see http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2042000120081120).

I understand that Better Place has had some conversations with Palo Alto Mayor Kline, Vice Mayor Drekmeier, and PA City staff (I have a query out to my PA CEAP buddies for info about this), so there's some precedent for Mountain View being in the loop, at least as far as being informed about what we might do to participate in this program as it evolves.

If you are willing to add this to the next or a future agenda (about 30 minutes would be needed), please let me know, so I can coordinate with Jason.

Bye for now!
Bruce England

P.S. A bit more info about Better Place as provided by Jason:
The key articles I’d suggest besides www.betterplace.com are:
1. Better Place overview
http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/magazine/16-09/ff_agassi?cu...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/opinion/27friedman.html?_r=1&scp=3&...
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1841778_18...
2. California announcement last week
http://greenwombat.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/11/21/san-francisco-to-...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122721116741545211.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/83ab3888-b76a-11dd-8e01-0000779fd18c.html

P.P.S. Jason suggested that we look at Sonoma County's Community Climate Action Plan (coolplan.org) for interesting work in progress on the electric-vehicle infrastructure front.

[Bruce England]

Hello Ronit et al:

I believe that what BetterPlace has in mind is a comprehensive regional solution that would work consistently (from a user perspective) across cities. I'm sure that we could ask for a presentation crafted to a length that you prefer (if a half hour is more than you'd like to take at this time). Could you advise?

Thanks!
Bruce

At 9:02 PM -0800 11/26/08, Bryant, Ronit wrote:

Don't we already have some recharging stations in town? At the MOC, for example - I think I used to see them when I parked near the Parks Division off Whisman Road. I'd like to hear about that too - and I'd appreciate a brief presentation: I think we have quite a lot to discuss as is in our attempt to craft some concrete recommendations for Council.

ronit


-----Original Message-----
From: jacshar...@comcast.net [mailto:jacshar...@comcast.net]

Sent: Wed 11/26/2008 3:20 PM
To: Bruce England; Jenkins, Joan; Bryant, Ronit; Abe-Koga, Margaret
Cc: Attinger, Steve; mvenvtransport
Subject: RE: Inviting BetterPlace out for a CESC presentation

Do we have any data on the approximate number of electric vehicles that currently frequent our city that may use this utility and that may also reside here?  This may be one of those issues that is "Build it and they will come".  Anyway, I would be willing to hear no more than a 30 minute presentation.  What do other members think?

Thanks,

Jac

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Bruce England <bken...@earthlink.net>
> Hello Joan and CESC councilmembers:
>
> Per Steve's recommendation, I'd like to ask for an agenda addition for a
> presentation from Jason Wolf of Better Place. Better Place has been in the news
> of late related to their plans to develop a network of electric vehicle
> recharging and battery exchange stations starting with San Francisco, Oakland,
> and San Jose (for some details in the news, see
>

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2042000120081120).

>
> I understand that Better Place has had some conversations with Palo Alto Mayor
> Kline, Vice Mayor Drekmeier, and PA City staff (I have a query out to my PA CEAP
> buddies for info about this), so there's some precedent for Mountain View being
> in the loop, at least as far as being informed about what we might do to
> participate in this program as it evolves.
>
> If you are willing to add this to the next or a future agenda (about 30 minutes
> would be needed), please let me know, so I can coordinate with Jason.
>
> Bye for now!
> Bruce England
>
> P.S. A bit more info about Better Place as provided by Jason:

> The key articles Iâ?Td suggest besides www.betterplace.com are:
> 1.      Better Place overview
> http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/magazine/16-09/ff_agassi?cu...
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/opinion/27friedman.html?_r=1&scp=3&...
> http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1841778_18...

http://greenwombat.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/11/21/san-francisco-to-...
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122721116741545211.html