The last few days have seen a number of announcements which may ultimately help to "revolutionize transportation"!

Firstly General Electric have just announced the pedestal version of their WattStation™ electric vehicle charging station:

More on GE Networks Electric Vehicles with WattStation Connect

Earlier this week Better Place announced the "unveiling of its new brand identity and online campaign".

In an article in the New York Times Thomas Friedman, author of "The World is Flat", suggests that the combination of Shai Agassi, Israeli entrepreneur and founder of Better Place, and T. Boone Pickens and his eponymous "Pickens Plan", represents "the start of an energy revolution":

More on Better Place Offers an Alternative to the Pickens Plan

This weeks European edition of Fortune Magazine contains interesting articles on the "Solar Gold Rush" in the Southwestern United States and the chequered history of the Tesla electric supercar.

Even more interesting, to me at least, was the fact that included inside the see through wrapping was a copy of "The Mini Rough Guide to Energy and our Planet", sponsored by big oil company Shell. The foreword is written by Jeremy Bentham, who used to be head of hydrogen at Shell, but now bears the title of "Chief Scenarios Developer". Jeremy outlines two possible scenarios Shell use in their strategic planning. In the first, codenamed "Scramble":

More on A Very Rough Guide to Energy Efficiency

In this weekend's Daily Telegraph Andrew English reviews three new variants of the Smart fortwo that are even more economical that the standard Smart car. The petrol version of the Smart fortwo, the 2 seater car produced by the Mercedes Benz subsidiary, has long been one of the World's most frugal. It managed 60.1 mpg whilst emitting just 112 grammes of carbon dioxide on the EU combined cycle. The figures for the same model from the United States Environmental Protection Agency are 33 mpg in the city and 41 mpg on the highway.

More on New Smart Diesel is the World's Most Economical Car