What's yellow, red-hot, and green?
The ultra cool, ultra light sportscar we ran into at the Cleantech Open, Silicon Valley's way to let VCs (and potential employees) roam through just about everything that's moving in the clean tech space. We saw lots of good ideas for solar, alternative fuel, and wind, and then, outside the demo floor, a pretty good idea for your next car.
Saba Motors is (to put it mildly) very much under the electric vehicle radar these days. Not only privately held, but still very small, and in fact looking for investors. But their product is a cool, forward-thinking car. It's sporty, fast (0-60 in 5 seconds, they claim), and very clean. In fact, not only does it pump out zero emissions - like its better known electric cousins - but it can actually be charged by connecting to a solar panel. This might take a while to catch on, but think about it: While a run on electric cars would tax the power grid, if your car could be powered by the sun while it sat and waited for you, the grid gets a rest, too.
The company, nestled in San Jose, has already gotten good reviews from Governor Schwarzenegger. It's pitch to investors is basically: Here's a sporty, carbon-free to go green, for less than half the cost of a Tesla. It may be a little while before you see them all over town, but face it - you want one a lot more than you want a Nissan Leaf, right?
Scott wants one more than he wants a Nissan Leaf. He's on Twitter: @scottbudman
