A Truly Revolutionary Idea - Better Place - The Future of Electric Cars Is Happening Today

Now this is an incredible story about the potential massive revolution that will be made possible by the extreme passion of a very few people. Exciting in the sheer magnitude of its ambition and fact that if it happens, it will genuinely be one of the greatest revolutions in modern time, and the man that is going to make it happen will surely be one of the most influential men of their time. Maybe you already know of Shai Agassi or Better Place, the company that he founded. If not, I sure hope that soon we all will. He has an idea that could just make electric cars a practical reality, not just in 20 years time, but within the next few years. The best thing about his business idea Better Place, is that it is actually becoming reality. Read the full AMAZING article on Wired.

It is a long article and to help all you time starved people I wrote a brief synopsis. Read it, and then you will be inspired to read the main article, and then keep on reading!!

Shai Agassi seems overcomes the major hurdles in making an electric car a reality. Car costs, limitations of battery technology, and investment in infrastructure. While many of the technologies and ideas are not new, he manages to put together solutions to complex problems and interestingly he proposes to apply to the motor and energy industry a similar business model to the mobile phone and telecoms industry, where technology is made accessible at low costs by being subsidised over the duration of a long term contract.

By demonstrating a high potential for profitability he has been able to get major investors on-board. Where easy money is to be made, even the seemingly impossible can happen. In just 2 short years he can count countries, major players in the car industry and even Israel’s largest oil importer is one of his biggest backers and has raised over $1 Billion in investment capital.

Here’s how they will make money.
An electric car costs significantly less than a petrol car to power, and maintain. Lets say it costs €2000 to fuel a petrol car per year, yet it would only cost €800 to use electricity. Betterplace proposes to exploit this difference in energy costs by providing such a good refueling service that it would be able to resell electric energy to the consumer a premium, while remaining extremely appealing as it would still cost a lot less than running a normal car. Do I care that the electricity for my car cost more than for my TV, when I buy it packaged with access to a network of refueling stations, replacement batteries, useful software etc, when I am saving €1,000’s in the process?

He has the right partners on board, and created a win win situation for all the important players.
Car manufacturers - are in crisis and need to invest in improving their future. He has Nissan/Renault onboard. They don’t want the hassle of selling battery technology they know nothing about. This could make them the biggest producers in a rapidly growing market. Oil barrons - they don’t care if they will make more money selling electricity than oil. He got the heavyweight players onboard. People that had the power to snuff out the idea.
Countries - Many don’t want to be oil dependent, others need to reduce emissions significantly. Governments that get behind projects really help mak things happen!

So if people are making money, that is one important box ticker. But this is why it can happen…

Cars are cheaper - Possibly Free!
He removes the battery from the car buying process. The battery is not owned by the car driver, but is leased as part of an innovative fueling service. The electric car without battery is significantly cheaper than a petrol car, and is much easier and cheaper to maintain. So it has an immediate appeal to a consumer, and car manufacturers are happy doing what they do best. The fueling becomes packaged as a fueling serivce that you subscribe to. The cost of the car in full or in part can be subsidised over the duration of a long term contract, meaning that some cars may even be offered for free, much as many mobile phones are offered free if you sign a two year traffic contract. Governmental support will also ensure tax breaks and incentives.

Cars can drive as far as a normal cars
Electric cars do not have the same autonomy of normal cars, as the batteries only last 50 - 100km. So to resolve this issue they propose that owners can recharge at home, but if they need to travel further than the autonomy of the battery, then they simply pull into a ‘fueling station’, where the battery is automatically removed and replaced with a charged battery, without the driver needing to exist the car. So not dissimilar to refueling a petrol car, but a little less dirty. You will subscribe to an innovative and technology driven service. You tell your car where you want to go, and if there is not enough power in the battery, it will tell you where you need to stop to change the battery.

It is being rolled out at country wide levels in two countries.
Massive trials are starting in Israel and Denmark. Israel has the desire (more than others) to not be dependent on surrounding oil producing countries. To reduce oil imports by just 50% would be a big finger up, and improve the economy. Denmark needs to radically reduce emissions and sees this as a simple way to do so. Both are small countries, in which people drive relatively short distances, and would be less reluctant to own an electric car.

It is ecological - and solves another problem
As they can sell electricity at a premium price, it means that they can afford to buy expensive sustainable ‘green’ electricity. So giving a sustainable solution increase investment in alternative energy sources. ALSO most alternative energy sources do not produce energy consistently, i.e. Solar only produces during the day. So energy produced often has to be stored in massive and expensive batteries. An alternative storage method would be to trickle the energy into the parked cars connected to the grid, as it is produced. Then cars that remain connected could trickle the energy back to the grid as it is required.

Who Killed The Electric Car

This is a documentary that I really want to see!

Ideas & Being Green Are Key To Brands Future

"Fresh ideas" and "being green" were the top qualities of this year's Fortune 'most respected' companies award winners.

Read more on CNN

Honda's Ethical F1 Team Sponsorship

Social awareness and ethical marketing arrives at one of the biggest marketing and advertising arenas - Formula One.

Normally sporting hundred of corporate logos from sponsors keen to be seen associated with the high octain sport, this years Honda F1 car it will have only an image of the world wrapping around it's high tech body. Reflecting the general trend in eco awareness and ethical issues, Honda's campaign is probably the biggest to tackle the issue of global warming.

Honda appears to be reinvesting it's traditional marketing dollars back into it's own F1 project - sponsoring their own car, not with their own branding, but with an eco awareness campaign. Their desire is to raise awareness of global warming and at the same time capitalise on the interest generated and raise awareness of their own efforts aimed at developing more eco friendly technology.

The car itself is quite stunning, with its large and totally un-Formual 1 livery, and is guaranteed to generate reaction and hence should fulfil Honda's objectives. Visitors to the MyEarthDream.com URL, the only text to apear on the car, are encouraged to make a pledge to help stop global warming and donate to a charity set up by Honda to support eco causes. Visitors that pledge will be rewarded by having their name printed onto one of the actual F1 race cars.

No doubt what Honda may miss out on in sponsorship invvestment they should recoup in PR. That said, I am sure that there will be many sponsors who while not featured on the car itself, will captialise from association with the car.

The site is very simple and well designed. View it here.

Will Global Warming Be So Bad?

Diesel have just posted a new video on YouTube and their own website Diesel.com, that introduces their new provocative Global Warming Ready advertising campaign. Diesel asks...'Is Global Warming such a bad thing?' Leaving the viewer to decide, they claim to be ready just in case. So after the Stern report, here is Diesel's report into the effects of Global Warming...the findings -sunglasses recommended for the warmer times ahead! If it is going to happen, you may as well look stylish.

Diesel - Global Warming Ready - New Campaign

Diesel's latest advertising campaign is timely to say the least. The campaign depicts a drastically changed world, altered by the effects of Global Warming. Taking on a long time serious issue, but one that has in recent months become a very 'hot' topic (no pun intended!).

The striking and sophisticated images are set in various locations around the world, each having succomb to the effects of Global Warming; From New York sky scrapers emerge from the ocean, with flood waters upto the 50th floor to more subtle interpretations, such as tropical parrots taking the place of pigeons as the native bird in Venice's fames St Marco's Square. In all of the images, shot by fashion bad boy Terry Richardson, the people (dressed in Diesel naturally), seem unperturbed by the new environment, and in most cases are enjoying the new warm conditions. When you first see the images they seem quite normal beautiful fashion images, but it is only on the second look that they reveal their true story. Considering that we are bombarded with tabliod style news with it's hyperbowl horror story approach, this is an interesting and more thought provoking way of bringing attention to the issue.

The campaign can be seen online at Diesel.com

London Wind Farm

Let's hope that the public do not object to this project, that could account for 1% of all the UK's energy requirements.

Read on WIRED, I also love their parody of the famous Turner painting.
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2006/12/london_may_buil.html

More about the project at their site.

Telsa Roadster - Ferrari Beating Electric Sportscar

Reading about the Telsar roadster and you would be lead to believe that it was a traditional luxury sports car. However it has one fundamental difference. It is electric.

With all of the performance issues of other earlier attempts at electric cars answered, such as low top speeds, or having to recharge every half an hour, all of the benefits of the electric car seem to make our future car driving experiences look much more enjoyable. According to the Telsar site there are hundreds of heavy components required to power a standard petrol engine, all of which need regualr maintainance and are prone to failure. By comparison the Telsar engine has only one moving part, the rotor.

The motor is so light a person could carry it. It is this fact that means that the car is capable of beating traditional super cars in the performance stakes, with a 0 to 60 mph in 4 seconds.

The battery, which is the cars biggest innovation, demonstrates that the biggest challenge for all electrical cars is being overcome, as it stores enough energy to power the car across 250 miles. A first for any electric car. It is clear that with continued research in this area, advances and breakthroughs will only continue to make electrical cars far more desireable than their fossil fuel equivalents.

I think that it is an intelligent plan of theirs to concentrate on developing high performance electric cars, to push the boundries of the technology and then let this advances eventually work their way down to more accessable cars.

The car also includes some other interesting 'digital' design features, such as being PIN protected, so that only those with the pass key can drive the car, and valet parking mode, that when accessed, permits the car to be driven at only low speeds.

The best aspect of the car, being electric, means that it is more environmentally friendly. The energy used to power the car is generated by efficient power plants that do not burn oil, rather using more environmentally friendly fuels, and the amount of energy used to generate the electricity is a lot less than a traditional car would use to power itself, as the electric car is much more efficient in turning its power source into energy.

The first deliveries are due for late 2007, but these are all sold out. If you want to get your hands on one you will need to wait until 2008!

View more here

Fuel Efficient Car For The Future

The Loremo is a facinating concept car that aims to provide a fun and sporty transport solution with greatly reduced fuel consuption - upto 1/5 of normal fuel consumption according to their figures - making it an interesting proposition for our globally warmed future that by all accounts is heading our way.

Greenpeace vs Apple

Interesting campaign by Greenpeace aimed at pressuring Apple into eliminating toxic substances in their products, and implementing a global product 'take-back' recycling programme.