Google gives $200,000 to plug-in hybrid car group
Google’s for-profit foundation Google.org has given a $200,000 grant to CalCars.org, a group that advocates the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric cars.
Plug-in hybrids are cars you can plug into an electricity outlet to recharge their batteries, and national automakers have been slow to develop them. PG&E and GM plan to enter the market over the next couple of years.
CalCars’ Felix Kramer (left) is the guy you’ll see driving a car around Palo Alto, Calif. that he claims gets 100+ MPG. The Google grant comes seven months after plans by Google to support plug-in hybrids first leaked in a NYT story. However, that piece was speculative and didn’t provide too many details. We’re hearing Google doesn’t plan to get into the car business — just like it doesn’t plan to get into the hardware phone business. But it we’re hearing it wants to strongly support adoption of such cars — announcement to come. Google co-founders Larry and Sergey were both early buyers of the Prius, and are supporters of the all-electric Tesla.
Kramer manages a helpful news archive tracking the latest developments in this sector; and see his blog.
(Photo courtesy U.S. News and World Report)
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About the Author, Matt Marshall
Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.
