Entries RSS · Will cars eventually cost nothing?
Just read the Face Value in the Economist from a few weeks ago, on Shai Agassi, an Israeli entrepreneur and former SAP employee, who is developing an ‘electric infrastructure for cars’ business, called Better Place. The idea is that there will be hotspots across a region and for cars to be subsidised by the subscription that you buy.
After the financial marble that the Indian company Tata Motors has produced, a car that costs between $2,200 and $3,800, and having seen several other concept cars in that price-range from companies like Volkswagen, is it possible that we will approach a time where cars will essentially be free?
I’m more sceptical, I think it’s a sign of the times, a recession + oil-prices and availability + the rise of emerging economies + more abstractly, that whole global warming thing, and the resulting desperation, which is causing businesses to come up with alternative business models around personal transportation.
And if given a choice, I would prefer for a system like Vel’oh!, here in Luxembourg, where you simply borrow a bike and bring it back at a pre-determined parking-zone after you’re finished with it. That said, I do hear that they get stolen a lot over there in France… 
Thoughts?
Vincent
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Tags: automotive, better place, clean energy, clean tech, electric cars, electricity
Business strategy, Consumer electronics, Design, ERP, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Globalization, Networks, Public policy, Supply Chain, Sustainability, Technology, credit crunch, innovation, operations
I think it’s a good idea to have bikes that are built solid yet not practical to steal. I’m guessing the big blue thing on the back is hard to remove.
Well, most of the French bikes were found in Eastern Europe. I don’t think people there care if there’s a big sign on it that says Velib, Veloh, or whatever. Same in the Netherlands where stealing bikes is something we learn from the moment our first bike is stolen. It’s an industry!