Electric transport - The third industrial revolution

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 | Posted by: Brian Maguire
Categories: Business, Technology | Tags: government, nuclear, economist intelligence unit, geneva motor show, electric cars

Some years from now, there will be less talk of economic gambling and more on how we played a steady hand in heavy seas. We will talk of how innovation, and investment in electric cars, changed the way we live our lives, how green cars became the catalyst for economic recovery and a beacon of British science and ambition.

In these last few weeks, the positioning of electric cars as a prominent policy, an exciting policy, lesson for business have emerged – don’t focus on popularity and packaging; focus on substance and the delivery of big ideas, even if they haven’t been absolutely thought through.

This year’s Geneva Motor Show previewed the latest electric cars; there is much to be optimistic about. Few of these cars are exciting to petrol-heads. No self-respecting 4x4 driver is going to entertain a G-Wiz, unless they can put it in their boot and unload it when they reach the congestion zone. This technology is in its infancy, but it’s going to grow up, real fast.

Behind every £5000 electric car incentive scheme is a huge service and infrastructure opportunity to be developed. In a single policy announcement, Team Brown has set in motion the reorganisation of our cities, our homes, our way of life. Personally, I don’t really care much for a car that I can plug in, I’m happy to pay for the lifestyle I enjoy, and to offset the difference with small taxes – I confess to being a 4x4 driver. Still, I like the policy, a lot.

Prioritising electric cars is no longer a pilot project. There will be mistakes along the way, but there will be much more Government investment, and because of this new confidence in the green energy project, private investment will gain traction. Despite murmuring in the wings, it is a non-partisan issue which can be adopted in its general form by all the main UK political parties.

It’s no accident that details of eleven new nuclear power plants were embedded in national newspapers beside the electric car announcement. Nuclear power is still a staging post to long-term renewable clean energy, and it will be tolerated, despite its huge comparative cost. It is unpopular energy sources which will continue to alter the national mood, encouraging us all to contribute to the greening of the nation. Watch as science becomes more popular, problem solving becomes cool, as the first electric 4x4 is unveiled. Green cars are a very big idea, the biggest tangible idea for a generation.

Grant Thornton and the Economist Intelligence Unit recently posed the question: ‘Is Britain an innovation island?’ Our unilateral declaration of national intent, public readiness to accept the challenge of green cars, and the transformative capacity of the e-car project prove, to the edges of the extreme, that Britain is an innovative nation. The green era is only emerging. Its heralds trumpet the social morality of environmentalism; but the engine of this new industrial revolution is capitalism, embedded in the market economy, infused with innovation.

Electric Cars:

Geneva Motor Show 2009 – Alternative Power

GM Hybrid Concept

Electric Vehicle Symposium