That’s CalCars Founder and Plug-In Hybrid visionary, Felix Kramer with his now legendary Plug-In Prius outside of the San Jose Convention center this afternoon.  Kramer and several other plug-in hybrid heavyweights held a well-attended press event in advance of today’s plug-in battery workshop.  

I hope to get some news from the battery workshop when I attend tonight’s Welcome Reception sponsored by PG&E.

But one big piece of charging news comes courtesy of Plug-In America founder, Paul Scott who passed on the report from

Coulomb Technologies who “Today announced a smart charging infrastructure for plug-in vehicles. Coulomb has developed a complete solution targeting plug-in vehicles including Extended Range Electric Vehicles, Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles, and Battery Electric Vehicles. Coulomb’s ChargePoint™ Network includes public charging stations, a consumer subscription plan and utility grid management technology for electric utility companies to smooth electrical demands on the grid. The infrastructure solution will be showcased with the Saturn Vue Plug-in Hybrid at the Plug-In 2008 Conference.”

Speaking of news, there was a plug on the front page of this morning’s San Jose Mercury News for the conference with a photo of Kramer’s converted Prius.  A piece on the conference lead the front page of the Tech section.

Tomorrow morning the full Plug-In 2008 Conference kicks off with keynote speaker, Andy Grove, Intel CEO and Chairman, talking about why the time is now for Plug-Ins.

I’ve already got my “hit list” of breakout sessions, exhibitors and plug-in principals I want to meet, listen to and learn from while I’m here. 

I’ll try to share as much as I can each day as I shoot photos and video for my Greenius reports.  I’m excited to be here and on to road to meeting the challenge of clean, green electric drive vehicles.