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Sep 23 2008 4:01PM EDT

GE: Bringing Electric Cars To Life

Blaise Zerega loves second acts. The next year and a half will see the re-birth of the electric car. And none other than GE -- that's right, General Electric, will be playing a big role in this transformation of transportation by applying its know-how to both the power grid and the power pack.

GE is working with Chrysler and the Dept of Energy to create smaller, and one would hope lighter, cheaper, and more efficient battery packs for electric autos, according to the WSJ. For the all-electric prototype announced today by Chrysler, a Dodge sports car called the EV, the automaker is relying on a lithium-ion battery with a 150 mile range when fully charged.

This news come the heels of last week's infrastructure announcement. GE CEO Jeff Immelt joined Google CEO Eric Schmidt at the Googleplex to announce a collaboration to develop a 21st century electricity system, with the ultimate aim of using green energy sources to vastly improve the grid's production capacity. While the current grid can support millions of all electric vehicles, the GE-Google partnership would help ensure plentiful electricity on a smart basis.

For instance, if I plugged in my electric vehicle at my buddy's house, I would get the charge on my monthly bill and not him. Or juice from my fully-charged vehicle could be tapped by the grid if it were idle for a long period of time. And my bill would then show a credit.

As a concerned citizen, I am excited to see the EV-1 getting its due. (Add Who Killed The Electric Car to your Netflix queue.) But as a Conde Nast Portfolio reader (and editor), I am blown away to see how prescient Andy Grove was when he called for GE to lead the way on electric cars.

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