VACAVILLE, California — The longest journey starts with a single step, the saying goes, and our first step toward a public EV quick-charge infrastructure has been taken in a small city north of San Francisco. Vacaville is the first city in the United States to install a public DC quick-charge (aka Level 3) station.

The downside of EVs? Coal – The reason Greenpeace opposes EVs In the past few years numerous studies have suggested, despite the dirty nature of coal-powered electricity, off-peak charging for electric vehicles is still, generally and overall, cleaner than burning petroleum, at least in the US where cleaner and greener coal technologies have significantly replaced antiquated and far dirtier legacy systems.

Cars with cords are coming. It’s inevitable, because everyone from Audi to Volvo is working on one. The first of them will be in showrooms by the end of the year.

At long last, the feds have said the needs of pedestrians and cyclists must be placed alongside, not behind, those of motorists. In what amounts to a sea change for the Department of Transportation, the automobile will no longer be the prime consideration in federal transportation planning.

As Congress starts hammering out a transportation spending bill, keep your eye on who asks for what and how the horses are traded. Transportation is a tried-and-true way for legislators to bring home the bacon, so we’re sure to see legislation packed with pork barrel projects that range from the necessary to the advisable to the ridiculous.

The Senate has finally passed its first major piece of legislation in 2010, extending a 2005 transportation spending bill that was an anachronism even when it was written. The bill, which is almost certain to be passed by the House and signed into law, continues Washington’s penchant for auto-centric transportation policy, but at least it carries with it the promise we’ll see some real change this year. The bill in question is the$15 billion Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act .