Thursday, December 4, 2008

Building a "better place"

This project is one of the most exiting project I ever heard of:

When it comes to environment, there are a lot of debates on possible solutions and their their effectiveness. But here, I can say that shai Agassi (founder of 'Better Place") is really revolutionizing the car industry - at least as much as Steve jobs in the mobile phone industry with the iphone.

Imagine this:
Like a mobile phone, you can own an 'almost free' (electrical) car by signing a subscription plan / contract
Like a mobile phone. you pay as you use (instead of minutes, you pay for kilometers - and only that)
Like a mobile phone, you can use your car anywhere with coverage (but instead of antenna, you have battery exchange stations)

I love the idea of:

Driving a car that is 100% carbon emission free.
A car that can be more powerful than a ferrari -but still 100% electric
'Giving' cars to the average joe (so electric cars will be mass market in no-time)
"Switching" batteries faster than filling my tank with oil

And as Seth Godin explains, the car industry would be much healthier with hundreds of car manufacturers (like it was in the early days of the car industry) instead of a few giants: Better for competition, better for innovation, better for local jobs (!!!).

We all can now dream that, in 10 years from now, Apple (yes, Apple!!!) will launch its "iCar" with all the sexiness of an iPhone, the stability/security of its OS (but this time on the road, not on desktop) and the buzz around this on all sort of (online and offline) magazines.

But to comfort my friend Sebastien Cottet (de Simexa.com) - who is an absolute Ferrari car lover - I am sure Ferrari will keep its cars running with oil for several decades before it even starts thinking of going 'electric'. (But I am also sure that some electric cars will have programs/options in their OS to simulate specific engine noises, like you can today choose wallpaper for your desktop - and I know, Sebastien... it's not the same....)

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