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Google unveils new plans for its London HQ
When Google spent upwards of $1.6 billion securing prime land near King's Cross station, it immediately set out plans for a new London HQ. They included a rooftop running track, swimming pool and interior cycling ramps, but it didn't take long for the project to be canned, with the search giant saying it wanted to "challenge ourselves to do something even better." Fast forward three years and Google CEO Sundar Pichai is town to recommit to its London campus, unveiling new ideas for its first "wholly designed" building outside of the US in the process.
Google's futuristic campus closer to reality after land deal
In a surprising real estate move for two Silicon Valley giants, Google and LinkedIn just traded nearly 3.5 million square feet of existing office buildings and future development space in Mountain View, California. As Silicon Valley Business Journal reports today, exactly zero dollars changed hands in the deal, but the "grand bargain" will clear a path for Google's futuristic new campus design.
Smug alert: Google says it has largest corporate EV charging network in the US (video)
Things are just getting greener and greener over at Google. Yesterday, the company triumphantly declared that its Mountain View campus now boasts the largest corporate EV charging network in the US, with some 200 chargers currently in place, plus an extra 250 that are on the way. It's all part of El Goog's RechargeIt sustainability initiative, launched in 2007, which has also given rise to the Gfleet -- a set of company-owned plug-ins made available for employees. Now that Google has purchased some extra Chevy Volts and Nissan Leafs, this Gfleet will eventually expand to include a total of 30 EVs, which explains the expansion of its ChargePoint Network. The ultimate goal is to have charging stations at five percent of Mountain View's parking spaces, all of which will be searchable on Google Maps, and available for employees to use for free. The company hopes this initiative will encourage more people to purchase EVs, and estimates that it'll eventually save a total of 5,400 tonnes of CO2 per year -- the equivalent to removing about 2,000 cars from the road. Head past the break for a video on the program, or hit up the source link if you'd like to help Google pat itself on the back.
Google HQ gets juiced with Plugless Power EV charging unit
We've seen it adorned with a giant Honeycomb and an oversized Gingerbread man, and now Google's bringing a more practical addition to its Mountain View campus -- specifically, a Plugless Power EV charging station. Its maker touts the installation as "the first public release" of the handsfree re-juicing system, and says it will eventually provided power to a fleet of low-speed EVs already in use at El Goog HQ -- the first of which has already been retrofitted to get pumped up. Who knows, maybe now we'll see something come of Google's claims to make electrical vehicles charge more efficiently. Full PR after the break.
Visualized: Honeycomb statue sweetens up Google's campus
Well, it didn't exactly make the most timely appearance, but Google's statue-makers have now finally delivered a monument to the latest Android release: Honeycomb. As you can see, they've also gone the extra mile and actually included our friend the Android robot this time around, although it seems like it's about to come out on the losing end of its encounter with that giant bee.
