Saturday, October 6, 2012

Forbes proposes new '21st Century' job: EV valet service




High-school students with licenses who are looking for driving gigs, rejoice! There could be more valet-parking jobs opening up – and ones that aren't just at expensive restaurants and private parties. Here's whatForbes contributor Jeff McMahon is suggesting, though we're not sure if he's being totally earnest.

After speaking with ComEd's Mike McMahan, McMahon wrote that a jump in electric-vehicle sales could create EV-valet jobs. The idea is that many EV owners leave their cars parked and recharging all day at charging stations near work or at train stations, when in fact the vehicle may only need a couple of hours to "fill up."

In the real world, this situation has already led to some altercations from EV owners who unplug other people's cars to get their electron fix – sometimes this becomes quite public. To solving the problem, in come the EV valets. These would be people who would be able to swap out fully-charged EVs for those waiting in line without the owners being there. No word on whether such a job would require a red bow tie and a black vest.

If this isn't just a solution looking for a problem, the EV valet scenario is likely years away, given the current the rate of EV sales in the U.S. September sales numbers just came out, and while plug-in hybrids like theChevrolet Volt and the Toyota Prius Plug-in each moved about 3,000 units last month. Even though it had the highest sales totals in 12 months, the Nissan Leaf – and other pure electric vehicles – are not selling in record high numbers.


Source: Forbes

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