The Google humanitarian arm/foundation/”we have more money than God so let’s do some good division” has come up with a laudable project.  Check this out. Google is offering cold hard cash to folks who submit the best proposals for a plug-in vehicle that is commercially marketable. Anywhere from $500,000 to $2M for the ideas the folks at Google think have the best shot to make it.

Apparently, there are some technologies the “million monkeys at Google” can’t create.  So, they’ve decided to outsource it.  The liberitarian in me absolutely loves this idea.  Private citizens using their resources to solve a public problem.  No tax dollars and its being handled by people with more creativity and less red tape than it would in the government allowing them to get it done cheaper and faster than the government could do it.  Perfect!

In this case, they’re trying to push along a commercially viable electric car.  Granted, a lot of the energy production has been moved from the combustion engine under your hood to the power plant down the road, it’s still an alternative fueled vehicle and its contained to one place.  A single place that should, in theory, be easy to clean up, maintain, and even switch production source.

It’s a great idea, and I’m glad one of the monkeys at the great inter-Google came up with it.