Michael Kanellos, Contributor I write about the intersection of
science, business and ambition. The debate has raged for years
in alternative transportation. Electric vehicle (EV) advocates
claim that the steady improvement in battery technology, the
pervasiveness of the grid, and software and services to enable
things like high-speed charging will make electrification of at
least some portion of the transportation market inevitable.
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk predicts that 13 percent or more of
cars coming off production lines could be electric by 2020 while
Nissan’s Carlos Ghosn says 20 percent of its cars by 2020 will
be electrics, and that doesn’t count standard hybrids, which are
partly electric. Electric will even play a role in public
transportation, argues Proterra, which has created an electric
bus for municipal transportation and a complementary high-speed
DC charger that can get its 68-passenger behemoths back on the
street in 20 minutes or less. CNG advocates, however, claim they
have a big advant