EV Week Is Here

EV Week has begun and already IBM has made a few announcements, followed by carmakers around the globe. EV Weeks highlights the different happenings in this wide field of the electric drive, from carmakers working electrifying their drivetrains to utilities working on Smart Grids, to consulting companies helping everyone putting the pieces together.

A Smarter Planet Blog: Our friends from asmarterplanet.com are posting interesting and relevant information concerning the Department of Energy; such as how EKZ, a leading energy provider in Switzerland is partnering in the EV Smartphone App to bring you more useful apps. Also PG&E and IBM’s Clay Luthy, Global Distributed Energy Resource Leader, highlight the different perspectives and initiatives of how each organizations are working to bring you the best electric car, EV user experience.

Twitter Chat Session. Follow the conversation using #EVweek with @IBMSmartrEnergy for the week of April 9 to 13. On April 12, from noon to 1 p.m. ET, please join join Clay Luthy @smarterplanet for a Twitter Chat to learn more about how Smarter EVs will help you drive smarter. Use the hashtag #P4SP to follow along. You can read more on this by going to: http://storify.com/smarterplanet/p4spchat-electric-vehicle-adoption

Sharing EV Passion On Facebook. Share your perspective on EVs via IBM’s People for A Smarter Planet (P4SP) throughout EV Week and let us know whether you have or are planning to purchase an EV. Also join us for #SmarterFriday, a daylong chat on April 13 on the P4SP Facebook page.

Venturi Mission Africa In An Electric Citroen. “Mission Africa” is a Venturi Global Challenges that will tackle a daunting adventure launched to test both technology and the human potential by driving a distance of over 2,982.58 miles on the exotic and arduous roads and trails of Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Bostwana and South Africa. All of this will be done in an electric vehicle from Renault, the Berlingo, without the slightest assistance.

The departure is scheduled for May 11th, 2012 in Nairobi, at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, make its way through the great parks and nature reserves of Tanzania and Zambia, run along the edge of Lake Victoria, then through the Okavango Delta to Botswana, finally reaching Johannesburg in South Africa. This month-and-a-half on the road of this fabulous region in Africa will prove yet again that electric drive is worthy successor to the clunky, inefficient internal combustion engine.

Check back with us as we continue our tour of EV Week.