PD Editorial: Plugging in
Sonoma County, local cities may give buzz to electric cars

Published: Monday, November 24, 2008 at 4:20 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, November 24, 2008 at 4:20 a.m.

You don't need a soothsayer to know that one day fuel prices will start rising again.

And it doesn't take tea leaves to figure out that combatting climate change will require reducing auto emissions in a big way.

So, it makes sense to test alternatives.

To that end, public agencies in Sonoma County and throughout the Bay Area are interested in adding electric vehicles to their fleets.

Sonoma County is entering formal talks with Nissan, which is working on an all-electric vehicle. County employees may be behind the wheel by 2010. Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Rohnert Park and other local cities also are interested in acquiring electric cars.

Meanwhile, a Palo Alto company announced last week that it plans to build a $1 billion network of recharging and battery-swapping stations throughout the Bay Area by 2012, the year that Nissan plans to begin mass-marketing its electric vehicles.

The local agencies have promised to work with Nissan to explore creation of a network of recharging stations in Sonoma County. And the mayors of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose have pledged to work with their counterparts throughout the Bay Area on a regional regulatory system to ease the development of recharging stations.

This partnership is worth pursuing, but local officials should proceed with caution.

For all their environmental promise, electric cars remain an unproven technology. General Motors' EV1 has come and gone. The only highway-legal electric car sold in the United States, the Tesla Roadster, costs more than $100,000. In Sonoma County, we've watched close-up as Zap has tried to build a market for its more affordable three-wheel electric vehicles.

Engineers are trying to increase the range and reduce the price of electric vehicles, and Nissan says its cars will be competitively priced and have a range of 100 miles.

Just as conventional vehicles need gas stations, electric cars will need charging stations. That's a big incentive for Nissan to seek alliances with public agencies such as Sonoma County, of course.

If automakers indeed have overcome some of the technological obstacles, providing electric vehicles at a reduced cost to public agencies could help prove their value and persuade the public to try them.

When Petaluma voted last week to open talks with Nissan, Mayor Pam Torliatt said the city hopes to acquire a couple of free electric vehicles by working with the carmaker. Councilmen Mike O'Brien and David Rabbitt caution that creating a charging network could cost more than a couple of vehicles.

The discussions don't obligate the local agencies to buy vehicles or install chargers. But they may become willing customers, and attract private investors for charging networks, if electric cars fulfill their promise.