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Estonia becomes the first to open a nationwide electric vehicle charging network

estonianworld.com

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Re: Estonia becomes the first to open a nationwide electric vehicle charging network

#41

Post by saraid216 »

walshemj wrote: post #37
saym wrote: post #2

Estonia has impressed me with their forward thinking policies. Everything about their execution of this plan has me impressed. They have executed well in financing the building of this network and in creating a sustainable business model for the future. Related note: 5 Months ago I remember hearing about their plan to introduce programming into elementary curriculum. http://developers.slashdot.org/story/12/09/04/2136…

Estonia is a former Soviet republic and now a fairly poor European country one does have to ask is there not better things to spend this on? Support for start ups that create long term jobs and values might be a better use of the carbon credits they sold to Mitsubishi.

Off Wikipedia:

"Estonia has the highest gross domestic product per person among the former Soviet republics.[10] It is listed as a "high-income economy" by the World Bank, is identified as an "advanced economy" by the International Monetary Fund, and is a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The United Nations classifies Estonia as a developed country with a very high Human Development Index,[5] and the country ranks highly in measures of press freedom (3rd in the World in 2012[11]), economic freedom, political freedom and education."

Re: Estonia becomes the first to open a nationwide electric vehicle charging network

#42

Post by jmspring »

martinced wrote: post #40
saym wrote: post #2

Estonia has impressed me with their forward thinking policies. Everything about their execution of this plan has me impressed. They have executed well in financing the building of this network and in creating a sustainable business model for the future. Related note: 5 Months ago I remember hearing about their plan to introduce programming into elementary curriculum. http://developers.slashdot.org/story/12/09/04/2136…

"They have executed well in financing the building of this network..." They have executed well in the building. Financing is kinda easy for a country of only 1.3 million people heavily subsidized by the European Union (which Estonia is a part of). During the 2008-2009 crisis (which is not done yet but I digress), the Estonian GDP took a gigantic hit: -20% of the GDP. That's what you get when you're taxing the private…

Agree with your point about both the size of the country and the funding they are receiving. That said, when I visited Estonia in the early 2000s, prior to being in the EU, their broadband infrastructure seemed better than that of Finland and Germany (two countries I spent time in). That may have well been due to it's overall size.

What is interesting to me about Estonia now is the lack of overall diversity in the tech sector there. The biggest tech employers seem to be the government, the banks, and Skype.

Maybe Skype buyout V2 will inject more in the way of a startup culture there.

Re: Estonia becomes the first to open a nationwide electric vehicle charging network

#43

Post by dalke »

vacri wrote: post #36
prostoalex wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surprised Vatican hasn't beaten them to a punch with a nationwide charging network, but with their upper management exodus I guess that slipped on the priority list.

Interesting point - I didn't even think the Vatican had roads. Looking at google maps now, it does seem to have some, but I'm not sure if they're public (not that you couldn't have a charger because of that)

Challenge accepted.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6768395.stm says there's a 30km/h speed limit and an accident in 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments_for_Drivers says there are 1,000 cars in Vatican City.

A-ha! Here's a description of the people who drive in Vatican City: http://mes.stparchive.com/Archive/MES/MES03141997p05.php . It's at the bottom, along with a description of the parking problems and congestion. Based on http://www.slate.com/articles/life/welltraveled/features/201... , these roads are not open to the public.

Lol. The joys of automatically generated text. http://www.expedia.co.uk/Compare-Cheap-Car-Hire-In-Vatican-C... claims "However, most car hire vendors will also have pick up/ drop off locations within Vatican City, so if you are staying in the city then you may want to consider this as an option ... If you plan to hire a car and drive around Vatican City to take in the sights, it's worthwhile taking a bit of time out and stopping off and visiting the historical Casina Pio IV (Villa Pia). The big advantage of hiring a car in Vatican City will not only allow you to enjoy the scenery within the city boundaries but will also makes it much easier to explore beyond the city."

Casina Pio IV is "home to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas." I'm pretty sure it's not on the top things to see while in Vatican City.

Re: Estonia becomes the first to open a nationwide electric vehicle charging network

#44

Post by uvdiv »

NickM wrote: post #12
newbie12 wrote: post #6

Unfortunately, because Estonia derives almost all of their electrical power from coal, this is a wasteful setback for the environment. http://www.tradingeconomics.com/estonia/electricity-producti...

Even if they derived 100% of their electricity from coal, it would be a huge win for the environment. There have been multiple studies done on this, and power plants and electric motors are massively more efficient and clean than gasoline cars. Even when you factor in transmission losses, charging losses, etc. and assume you're using 100% coal power, EVs beat ICEs by a wide margin. Not to mention, solar is rapidly ap…

Even when you factor in transmission losses, charging losses, etc. and assume you're using 100% coal power, EVs beat ICEs by a wide margin.

I'm pretty sure it's the opposite. Do you have a particular study/calculation in mind?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/automobiles/how-green-are-...

Re: Estonia becomes the first to open a nationwide electric vehicle charging network

#45

Post by SilasX »

dalke wrote: post #43
vacri wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting point - I didn't even think the Vatican had roads. Looking at google maps now, it does seem to have some, but I'm not sure if they're public (not that you couldn't have a charger because of that)

Challenge accepted. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6768395.stm says there's a 30km/h speed limit and an accident in 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments_for_Drivers says there are 1,000 cars in Vatican City. A-ha! Here's a description of the people who drive in Vatican City: http://mes.stparchive.com/Archive/MES/MES03141997p05.php . It's at the bottom, along with a description of the parking problem…

>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6768395.stm says there's a 30km/h speed limit and an accident in 2006.

Hm, they could just restrict driving to golf carts and be the first fully-electric-car nation ...

Re: Estonia becomes the first to open a nationwide electric vehicle charging network

#46

Post by zalew »

martinced wrote: post #40
saym wrote: post #2

Estonia has impressed me with their forward thinking policies. Everything about their execution of this plan has me impressed. They have executed well in financing the building of this network and in creating a sustainable business model for the future. Related note: 5 Months ago I remember hearing about their plan to introduce programming into elementary curriculum. http://developers.slashdot.org/story/12/09/04/2136…

"They have executed well in financing the building of this network..." They have executed well in the building. Financing is kinda easy for a country of only 1.3 million people heavily subsidized by the European Union (which Estonia is a part of). During the 2008-2009 crisis (which is not done yet but I digress), the Estonian GDP took a gigantic hit: -20% of the GDP. That's what you get when you're taxing the private…

> It's like Poland, for example: I love this country and it feels incredibly more "new" and even sometimes more "hi-tech" (e.g. in big cities malls) than western europe...

wow, it's nice you say that, but could you elaborate?

Re: Estonia becomes the first to open a nationwide electric vehicle charging network

#47

Post by panacea »

zalew wrote: post #46
martinced wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"They have executed well in financing the building of this network..." They have executed well in the building. Financing is kinda easy for a country of only 1.3 million people heavily subsidized by the European Union (which Estonia is a part of). During the 2008-2009 crisis (which is not done yet but I digress), the Estonian GDP took a gigantic hit: -20% of the GDP. That's what you get when you're taxing the private…

> It's like Poland, for example: I love this country and it feels incredibly more "new" and even sometimes more "hi-tech" (e.g. in big cities malls) than western europe... wow, it's nice you say that, but could you elaborate?

5D cinema!

http://www.aboutpoland.net/2011/10/10/watch-5d-at-fort-wola/

;]

Re: Estonia becomes the first to open a nationwide electric vehicle charging network

#49

Post by codefoe »

Being an Estonian citizen and all I know that I'm very lucky to have born in Estonia. Blazing fast internet speed comparing to U.S (according to a few U.S friends, not some giant stats machine) and free WiFi in nearly all of the bars, clubs, pubs, coffee shops, restaurants, malls there are. At least in the capital city that is.

That being said, tech might be top-notch, but the economy is sinking. Sure, they raised the minimum wage to 350 EUR / month, but all it really did was increase the number of "officially poor" and since living cost is catching up with Finland (not in houses or apartments as of yet, but pretty much everything else) the ~400 EUR most people get for paychecks around here is not for living, it's for suffering.

So perhaps a better thing to do would be to just fall behind in the tech field a bit (a bit, not die) and actually do whatever the hell is needed to provide companies with enough income to pay decent salaries. I have no idea how the entire "money making" system works and I'm sure it's complicated as hell, but if they have money to make Estonia a tech country that has a ton of poor people who are struggling to collect enough money to get the hell out of here then maybe they should instead invest that money in people - and in return get people invest in the country itself.

Re: Estonia becomes the first to open a nationwide electric vehicle charging network

#50

Post by mrleinad »

panacea wrote: post #47
zalew wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's like Poland, for example: I love this country and it feels incredibly more "new" and even sometimes more "hi-tech" (e.g. in big cities malls) than western europe... wow, it's nice you say that, but could you elaborate?

5D cinema! http://www.aboutpoland.net/2011/10/10/watch-5d-at-fort-wola/ ;]

Because 3D is soooo 1st decade of the 21st century..
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