Hyatt Puts Recharging Stations for Tesla Roadster in 3 Hotels
30 August 2007
S.F. Chronicle. Hyatt is installing recharging stations for the Tesla electric roadster in three hotels: San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, Sacramento, and Incline Village on Lake Tahoe’s North Shore.
A Tesla owner now can drive from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe without fear of running out of power.
Granted, installing chargers at three hotels may not seem like much of a business alliance. But the agreement between Tesla, one of Silicon Valley’s growing crop of green tech startups, and Hyatt, a global corporation with 753 hotels, shows just how much has changed in the way the world looks at electric cars. Namely, they’re now considered sexy.
Hyatt chose to work with Tesla because the roadster will probably attract the same customers that the hotel chain wants—affluent people who don’t mind spending money for high-end anything.
Although the Tesla can recharge from a standard wall socket, its takes almost twice as long as using the recharging stations designed by the company.
The method of recharging electric cars is a bigger issue than it may appear. During the era of the EV1, automakers battled over two different, incompatible recharging technologies.
...Tesla received a grant from the California Air Resources Board to design a recharging station that could be used by multiple makers of electric cars. Tesla is still devising ways to weatherproof the station, but the basic model uses what looks like a beefed-up extension cord with a circular plug. It attaches to the car on the rear post of the driver’s side. Tesla hopes to persuade other automakers to use the same system.
(A hat-tip to Lad!)
"A Tesla owner now can drive from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe without fear of running out of power."?
This is a distance of about 200 miles, which is the present range of the Tesla EV.
Since Sacramento is on the way to North Shore, this is good Hyatt marketing for the traveler to also stop in SAC for recharge.
Posted by: tonychilling | 30 August 2007 at 09:21 PM
There are many things I like about Tesla Motors; but, the thing above the others is they are leading the way to electrifying cars by solving problems in a practical way, using today's available but limited battery and materials technology. They are making it all work for the benefit of all of us.
Tesla has been able to control their company without depending on Big Auto and Big Oil. There are many who believe that once you partner with a large auto manufacturer, you give up your company and its products. A couple of new large format Li Ion battery manufactures have already done that and have in effect sold the control of their patents.
If Tesla's plans work out, their brand could someday be recognized as the standard of the auto business, displacing the rest. This is especially true as long as they can continue to work outside of the lobbying alliances like the AAM and don't get caught up in the lobbyist/politician payoff scams in Washington, D.C.
Posted by: Lad | 31 August 2007 at 02:26 PM
The hype around this thing is ridiculous.
Posted by: jack | 31 August 2007 at 07:48 PM
A Tesla owner now can drive from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe without fear of running out of power.
Can't drive a car you don't have.
A couple of new large format Li Ion battery manufactures have already done that and have in effect sold the control of their patents.
This statement is false on its face. The only lithium battery vendor to give up any control is AltairNano, which gave Phoenix Motorcars (hardly "Big Auto") a three year exclusive. A123 is working with GM on cells designed for specific GM vehicles but is free to sell different designs based on the same nanophosphate chemistry to other carmakers. Auto parts suppliers sign these deals every day, it doesn't stop them from selling across the industry.
Posted by: doggydogworld | 01 September 2007 at 09:10 AM