This makes me wonder what's going to happen in the UK to Dr. Who's tardis? :-)
What's also interesting is the last paragraph: payment via mobile phone, so the telco stays in the loop! :-)
" If you've run out of juice for your environmentally friendly " electric car, a recharge may be only a phone call away, " literally, under a new scheme unveiled by Telekom Austria here " Tuesday. " " The telecommunications company has decided to turn its public " telephone boxes -- which are in danger of becoming obsolete " anyway thanks to mobile phones -- into battery recharging " stations for electric cars. " " Admittedly, the scheme is still in its infancy: there are just " 223 electric cars currently registered in Austria at the moment, " plus 3,559 hybrid cars, from a total 4.36 million cars on " Austrian roads. " " But the Austrian motor vehicle association VOeC is predicting " that the number will rise to 405,000 by 2020. " " In a bid to find new uses for its 13,500 phone boxes around " the country, Telekom Austria has therefore come up with the " idea of turning them into recharging stations for electric " vehicles: cars, scooters and bicycles. " " Telekom Austria chief Hannes Ametsreiter unveiled the first " such phone box in front of the company's headquarters in " Vienna on Tuesday. " " And the aim is to convert 29 more phone boxes by the end of " this year, Ametsreiter told journalists. " " "In the longer run, we'll have to sound out the market to " see exactly how many phone boxes will be converted," the " telecom chief said. " " In the initial trial period, recharging will cost nothing. An " electric car needs around 6.5 hours to be recharged, an " electric scooter 80 minutes and an electric bike 20 minutes. " " But in future, payment, which is expected to cost a single-digit " euro sum, will be via mobile phone, Ametsreiter said.
***** Moderator's Note *****"Look around, it's all so clear Wherever we were going, well, we're here Glory, glory hallelujah Welcome to the future!"
- Brad Paisley