The Electric Vehicle Chicken and the Egg Problem

Transitioning to Electric Vehicles (EVs) is not just about getting more vehicles on the road, it also requires additional infrastructure investments to help support charge/power EVs. Thus while EV subsidies to end users are helpful to increase the EV customer base (public or commercial) there also needs to be a plan/strategy - some financial help would also be ideal - for infrastructure improvements like EV chargers.

Interestingly progressive countries like Spain already have about 1850 EV chargers, but even more interesting is that Spain wants to increase that number to 85000 in the next 2 years. That's a lofty and very commendable goal, however how is that going to happen. For instance EV chargers are not very expensive, but policies are needed to help facilitate the actual installation. And then there is the elephant in the room that everyone is talking about: the actual cleanliness of the energy sources used by the EV charger.

Today EV's in a way its like the chicken and the egg problem, automobile manufacturers are hesitant to bring to EVs to countries that are not attempting to put forth EV strategies, but governments are also hesitant to put forth EV strategies if they do not see much of a public demand.

Before we can get to the "How green is your EV charge source?" question, we must first address the question of "Who should take the risk, government or private industry?

New Opps in Cheaper Health Care: Smart Devices & Wireless Medicine

My favorite concept that I read about today is about wireless medicine and how smart devices are opening new opportunities to provide better and cheaper health care everywhere, from airplanes to senior citizen’s homes to poor rural communities.

This is just a quick recap summary of an interesting article I read: The Key to Better Health Care May Be Already in Your Pocket and Its Not Your Wallet.

Did you know it's possible to snap an AliveCor device onto an iPhone and perform a cardiogram at 30,000 feet? Well it is. Dr. Eric Topol was recently able to do a cardiogram on a flight from DC to San Diego after a passenger on a flight started to into heart attach-like motions on the plane and a flight attendant asked if there was a doctor on the flight. Dr. Topol was able to assess that the passenger was definitely having a heart attack an recommended an emergency landing. The passenger was taken to the
hospital and survived the heart attack.

Dr. Topol told NBC: “These days, I’m prescribing a lot more apps than I am medications.”