Electric vehicle makers could learn a lot from the mass adoption of cellphones.
When politicians speak of weaning ourselves off gas, they frame their plans across decades. Indeed, it can seem like a stretch to imagine looking at gas stations in the imminent future the way we do at pay phones today. Presently, electric vehicles appeal primarily to those who can pay a premium for expressing their “green” values. Such vehicles are seldom mentioned as the upcoming default for your everyday commuter or local delivery driver.
But what if a clever business model could lower the retail price of a Tesla compact sedan to less than $20,000, or make an extended range option like BMW’s i3 attainable for under $30,000? Could such pricing make electric vehicle adoption a no-brainer for a larger group of drivers? The business model that helped make the smartphone widely indispensable may offer a clue.
Massive industry and government inertia is as critical as deep-water oil exploration to keeping gas cars on the road. Recent moves by state governments to block Tesla from selling direct-to-consumers represent only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the public policies and industry practices that stand in the way of innovation in the automotive sector. Every use of the gas-fueled internal combustion engine is heavily underwritten by taxpayers, whose earnings are diverted to everything from oil spill cleanups to foreign policy investments required to keep enough petroleum accessible to meet present demand. This effective subsidization skews the competitive economics against investments in other technologies, whether from upstarts like Tesla, or from innovators working within legacy automakers to commercialize everyday alternatives to the old-fashioned gas car.
Senior Consultant Alejandro Crawford on “Developing Entrepreneurial Students for the 21st Century Economy” – what it means for students to create solutions to emerging problems, instead of just applying formulas derived for yesterday’s world. Crawford’s remarks were delivered as part of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s Entrepreneu
Senior Consultant Alejandro Crawford on “Developing Entrepreneurial Students for the 21st Century Economy” – what it means for students to create solutions to emerging problems, instead of just applying formulas derived for yesterday’s world. Crawford’s remarks were delivered as part of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s Entrepreneu