There is no question that early adopters will struggle to find charging stations in the coming years. Until there is a charging network for electric cars, the demand for the vehicles will remain low at best. What should come first, the charging stations or the electric car consumers?

The city of London is taking action by attempting to include charging station policy that would require developments, both commercial and residential to include charging stations once the density of population breaks a pre-defined threshold. The city has also committed to public charging station networks to be matched by private investors and the national government.

In a recent panel hosted by ThinkLondon, the topic of conversation was an electric charging network that would be built as a open source model. In a conversation with one of the attendees, BusinessWeek quoted London’s climate change program chief, Padmesh Shukla with the following:  ”Using the open platform model, the idea is to help foster development of common standards, tools, and practices for charge point developers, ensuring that all charging stations can operate with all electric models and generally create an environment in which electric car companies can prosper.” 

Back home in the U.S., San Diego based company San Diego Gas and Electric is attempting an open-source model as well. According to BusinessWeek, San Diego Gas and Electric is working with the Renault-Nissan Alliance and multiple charging companies on ways to innovate a charging network that integrate with San Diego Gas and Electric’s grid.

It’s good to see that large cities like San Diego and London are attempting to build the infrastructure necessary to boost and retain demand for electric cars.

Wow, what a tease! Discussions about the future of Tesla Motor’s Model S have really hit an all-time high in recent days, especially with the recent article in BusinessWeek. DrivePwr was excited to stumble on the recent article and thought it would be a good idea to blog this one out.

So, as you can see from the image above, Tesla Motors has decided to give a sneak-peak of the Model S, but I have to say that this is more than a simple tease. This is the epitome of everything going on with Tesla Motors, and I think with this photo and the recent news, the proof is in the pudding. I think one could argue they are losing their identity through the recent credit crunch and their internal firings. They have fired about 80 of their 380 people, and have further delayed the launch of the Model S. It looks like the launch, according the BusinessWeek article, will be delayed until 2011. Ouch.  Tesla Motors better get to work on the 1,200 back orders of their Roadster, or they could really find themselves in a tough spot.

All-in-all the loss of Tesla’s identity could force the company, who does zero marketing, to start investing in their reputation. If the the October 11th credit crunch holds strong, this could leave Tesla with out their Energy Department loan guarantees and could ignite a fire that will prove tough to put out.  Falling oil prices could sway the attention from Tesla Motors and force them to grab the spot light again. With that said, I’m not sure the teaser photo was the solution, but merely a band-aid.

GM Chooses LG Chem and Compact Power to Produce Volt Battery Packs

According to a Reuters, sources close to the deal have reported that GM has chosen LG Chem and Troy, Michigan based Compact Power to produce the lithium-ion batter packs for the Chevrolet Volt.  Seems they are still in talks regarding the details, like warranty costs, but this still seems pretty legitimate.  The actual deal will not be reported until November, and it seems as if all companies involved are conveniently declining to comment.

The anonymous sources also had indicated that the CPI batteries were being used in most of the Volt tests, and seemed to be running fairly perfectly.  A GM spokesman let Reuters know there was no official decision yet, although a a spokesman for LG Chem said:

“We were informed that the results are due in November, but we didn’t get any official answer from GM yet. We hope for and expect a good result.”

We will keep you informed of any new developments.