Frisco Versus Portland: Who Will Win the EV Grid Race?

The electric heat is on. The left coast’s two most prominent bastions of progressive culture are caught in a race to build the nation’s first electric vehicle grid. The mayors of San Francisco and Portland—Gavin Newsom and Sam Adams—are battling it out with online pledges and press conferences, each one claiming that his city will be the first to implement the infrastructure at a large-scale.

Here’s Newsom:

Now our neighbors to the north, Portland are challenging us for EV supremacy. This type of competition symbolizes what is best about our region and our country. If we were able to put a man on the moon, we most certainly can create a new generation of cars that do not run on fossil fuels.

And Adams:

I respect San Francisco’s commitment to being the EV leader. And I’m sure that EV’s make a lot of sense in the noise and congestion of bumper-to-bumper bay area traffic. But when you’re driving through the forests of Oregon on your way to a parking spot in downtown Portland, sometimes all you want to hear is the sound of silence.

Awesome. This sort of competition absolutely rules. It has the potential to drive some serious change in the world of transportation—and fast. Who’s your money on?