photo credit: clarksworth
Sunday, May 22, at the fair Terrafutura was held in Florence an interesting workshop on sustainable mobility organized by the no-profit organization Energoclub represented by Professor Gianfranco Padovan.
During the event the main issues of context were addressed:
- Air pollution
- Recharging infrastructure
- Security
- Electric traction
The environmental crisis in urban areas, clearly illustrated by Dr. Giovanni Invernizzi, allowed us to understand the urgent need for innovative and effective solutions for a sustainable mobility. Evolution really viable when clear and established policy for the deployment of smart charging infrastructure (really “citizen oriented”) will be settled, as clearly described by Dr. Iva Gianinoni of RSE.
The benefits and limitations of electric traction have been described in detail from a technical point of view by Andrea Lombardi (Fimea), showing that generally any traditional car could be transformed into an electric car by replacing the internal combustion engine. And this is the challenge that is leading eCars-Now, the association represented by Daniele Invernizzi, which is promoting sustainable mobility touring Italy with a DeLorean – the car used in the cult movie “Back to the Future” – by creating groups of potential customers who want to turn their traditional vehicles into electrical with costs more affordable than the cars available in the market. The same transformation eCars-Now already made on DeLorean and Smart for promotion.
The innovative business model promoted by eCars-Now is based on a strategy supported by the activities of the association of its partners and should be triggered by the demand of the buying groups. The model is similar to that of the Silicon Valley start-ups and it’s not casual that Invernizzi talks about an “Open Source” project. Compared to the traditional car manufacturer, in this model there are the benefits of a more dynamic “open” start-up and the disadvantages of the lack of a significant budget (ie beyond the criterion “invest only on the sold kits” by each partner) that requires the introduction of the business milestones and a leadership with the right vision that “governs the ship”.
Is there the ambition to incorporate the open source model – suitable for the development of the intangible software systems – to the tangible car system?
However I think that driving this model to success is a challenge, difficult but possible setting the strategy and not forgetting the quality and the value added services the customers already know.
