Electric Vehicles reached top gear in 2010, but is California ready to turn over a new Leaf?

What a bumper year 2010 was for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). While some countries like the UK saw sales plummet, global figures were expected to reach 954,5000 units in 2010, compared with 732,000 units in 2009, according to analysts JD Power.

Although San Francisco, where I live, saw the first deliveries of the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt in the US, in general, there is not much in the way of visible signs that the Bay Area is the electric vehicle capital of the world as envisioned by Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2008. 

The San Francisco Bay Area became the number one market in the US for Nissan LEAF reservations. In December, Olivier Chalouhi, a 31 year old Silicon Valley entrepreneur was the first in the world to take delivery of a Nissan Leaf, closely followed by the arrival of the Chevy Volt.

Clean tech California flexes muscle under Schwarzenegger but Michigan pumps ion after Granholm

Arnold Schwarzenegger is about to step down as governor and has vowed to continue his "green activism". Although Schwarzenegger is a Republican, any criticism of his push for climate change action in the state probably came from his own party, rather than the Democrats. At his last Governors' Global Climate Summit, he talked so much about flexing muscle against big oil special interests and used metaphors that normally belong in the gym I felt like I'd had a work out myself after his 30-odd minutes on the podium.


Californians will be sad to see him go, but only when they're not talking about the $25bn budget deficit he's left behind. But who will flex the climate muscle and take his place as "climate action hero" among America's governors?