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"   Recharging in front of City Hall in San Francisco, California (Image by Clayton Cornell at Gas2.org)   The folks at Gas2.0  reported that San Francisco will install electric-vehicle recharging stations in front of City Hall. (Mayor Gavin Newsom wrote in to Gas2.org as well\u2014&amp;quot;I believe that full battery electric vehicles are the quantum leap we need to make,&amp;quot; he says.)   Plug-in recharging stations is a critical first step in the adoption of electric vehicles. The main stumbling block for battery-powered cars is limited range. EVs typically can only travel less than 80 miles between lengthy recharging sessions. Without a plug-in infrastructure, consumer fears of being stranded without fuel are very real.   Various solutions to this problem are in the works. The Chevy Volt for example, is powered by a lithium ion battery pack, but it carries an on-board internal combustion engine that starts up and charges the battery if needed. The Volt will be able to go 40 miles on a fully-charged battery, an amount Chevy says is enough to cover the daily commutes of 90 percent of today&amp;#039;s workers. The gas engine is referred to as a &amp;quot;range extender.&amp;quot;   A company called Better Place envisions a network of charging and battery-switching stations so drivers can charge their cars away from home. Currently the company is deploying its first network\u2014in Israel. The country&amp;#039;s small size and dense population make it a good candidate. Many see wide-spread electric-vehicle use a tough sell in the U.S simply because the area is so great, which means in the beginning, EVs will mainly ply densely-populated cities, like, for example, San Francisco.   Even if charging stations become widespread, electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids still have some serious drawbacks. For one, they&amp;#039;re expensive\u2014the Volt&amp;#039;s 16 KWH hour battery is rumored to cost $16,000. Another more niggling problem is how the electricity is generated: More than 50 percent of our electric energy is generated by burning coal. While studies show that switching to electric vehicles will reduce smog in cities, switching to an all-electric fleet without changing the power generation sources is not likely to halt the flow of carbon dioxide\u2014the main anthropogenic source of climate change\u2014into the atmosphere.   But you have to start somewhere. San Francisco has pledged to be the &amp;quot;EV capital of the world,&amp;quot; and much of the world will be watching to see how the plan proceeds.   RELATED STORIES \u2022 PLUS: Policy Makers Discuss Plug-In Infrastructure  \u2022 EARLIER: Study Makes it Official: Plug-ins Reduce Smog  \u2022 TEST DRIVE: Taking the 2010 Plug-in Prius For a Spin   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a4008/4304147/>