Silicon Valley and Electric Cars

The LA Times has an article on 3 electric car start-ups in the SF Bay area:

... By tapping the Bay Area's engineering expertise and culture of innovation, a cluster of entrepreneurs, engineers and venture capitalists here are racing to bring their electric cars to market. Unlike Detroit and Japanese automakers, they're working on high-performance sports cars for wealthy auto enthusiasts.

At least three Silicon Valley start-ups — Tesla Motors of San Carlos, Wrightspeed Inc. of Woodside and battery maker Li-on Cells of Menlo Park — are among a cadre of companies nationwide developing electric cars or components.

... But some industry analysts question whether electric cars could ever become cheap enough or have the battery life to compete in the mainstream auto market.

"To attract consumers en masse, the price has to be low enough where they can see the break-even point," said Anthony Pratt, an automotive analyst at J.D. Power & Associates.

... Tesla's Eberhard thinks the Prius is "terrifically ugly" and believes that other wealthy car enthusiasts feel the same way.

In Tesla's workshop in San Carlos, Eberhard and Tarpenning offered a glimpse of their first model — a two-seater that resembles a Lotus Elise — but would not allow photographs. They plan to unveil it at an event for prospective buyers next month in Santa Monica.

"We're building a car for people who like to drive," Eberhard said. "This is not a punishment car."

Although he was mum on details and pricing, Eberhard said the first Tesla model would be able to drive more than 200 miles on one charge, making it good for commutes but not long road trips. With lithium-ion batteries, the car can be plugged into any electrical outlet.

... Now Silicon Valley, known for its ability to innovate, sees an opportunity to break Detroit's grip on the U.S. auto industry.

Developing an electric sports car is a complex engineering challenge that's well-suited to the region's techies, said Elon Musk, the co-founder of Internet payment company PayPal Inc. who has provided about half of Tesla's $60 million in funding.

"The technological challenges don't play to the strengths of Detroit," said Musk, who also heads Space Exploration Technologies Corp., an El Segundo developer of commercial rockets. "Nobody in the world is better than Silicon Valley at solving electrical engineering problems. The key technologies are in Silicon Valley, not Detroit."

They better hurry, looks like people are continuing to immigrate/relocate to the Golden State! Seriously, the cars described in the articles are high-end vehicles. The hope is that some of the key technologies being developed, get applied to more affordable cars. Personally, I'm glad some high-tech millionaires are willing to be early adopters and venture backers.