Bill lives a good 60 miles from San Francisco, so he needs to get some juice to make his trip home after work. In other words the one workplace charging solution that is cheap and easy and proven to work is disallowed in a solicitation intended to encourage more people to switch to plug-in cars. Some argue it’s so easy and so cheap employers should just do it. Maybe they tout it as smart and cheap. Friday November 22, 2013 Today I met a San Francisco cop. MORE

Millions will plug-in their electric vehicles (EV), plug-in hybrids (PHEV) and fuel cell vehicles (FCV) at night when electricity is cheap, then plug-in during the day when energy is expensive and sell those extra electrons at a profit. So while my car is powering the great city during the day how will I have juice to drive home at the end of the day? MORE

For just a little more than half that amount, we could fund a fifty-fold increase in spending on R&D for the kind of game-changing technological breakthroughs—like smart grids, ultra-efficient batteries or even cheap, manageable fusion—we will need to end our addiction to fossil fuels. Perspective by Brian J. Donovan, CEO of Renergie, Inc. MORE

And without cheap oil, corn would not have become Big Corn, the big agricultural combines (principally ADM and Cargill). They have had a tough time dealing with the influx of cheap American corn since NAFTA. As reported in Forbes, "The government eliminated its decades-old subsidy for tortillas in 1999 just as cheap corn imports were rising from the United States under NAFTA." Corn and petroleum course through our veins. MORE

They’ve kept my LEAF juiced, after all. For the electric vehicle project, broadly speaking, to be successful, we need to be mindful to keep it simple and keep it cheap. The result will be simple, safe and cheap. Plug-in cars are being delivered at long last. MORE

The units I found quite accidentally are Free Juice Bar dual-connector units. Free Juice Bar, as the name implies, dispenses electricity to cars without networks to join, credit cards to wave, or phone calls to release the precious, if not dear, electrons. And probably not cheap. MORE

Many workplaces could become EV friendly on the cheap, repurposing existing 120V outlets in parking areas and expressly allowing PEV charging. Providing a conventional 120V outlet is cheap and familiar. A smart strategy would forsee ubiquitous free 120V outlets and a relatively small number of monetized Level 2 charge stations for visitors and employees with a need for more juice. It’s been one full year since first Tesla S deliveries began. MORE

Free Juice Bar explicitly sells charge stations to offer free power. Creating an new industry that converts cheap electricity into a monetized charge session is not necessarily the best way forward. MORE