These are just a few of the questions consumers ask about electric vehicles, and they reflect the key barriers to adoption that commonly trouble advanced technologies such as technical challenges (batteries), complex systems (transportation infrastructure), and head-on competition with existing technologies (internal combustion engines).
Alone, automakers can only do so much to alleviate customer uncertainty—and can do even less to overcome the cultural and systemic challenges that EVs face. However, through collaboration with governments, utilities, financiers, tech-companies, charging station providers, and even other automakers, the entire industry can better position themselves to “win” in a growing market.
One way that collaboration can help move EVs closer to a tipping point is through open innovation. This approach is described by Henry Chesbrough as the use of purposeful exchanges of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and expand the markets for external use of innovation.
With participants from 30 cities across North America, RMI’s Project Get Ready acts as a platform for open innovation and information exchange. By enabling the flow of information across this network of cities, Project Get Ready helps identify best practices for overcoming challenges to vehicle electrification. More
The Cayman Islands are in the perfect position to take full advantage of electric, hybrid and alternativly powered vehicles. Thanks to the forward thinking of the Cayman Isands Government (CIG), the members of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (who drafted the new traffic law) and the long standing efforts of John Felder of Cayman Automotive Leasing, the residents of these islands can now purchase and drive an electric vehicle. The CIG has mandated a extremely attractive rate of duty on alternativly powered vehicles (and I might add to Renewable Energy equipment which is duty free) making the purchase of these cars comparable with those with internal combustion (gas / diesel) engines. As gas and diesel prices escalate the benefits of owning one of these vehicles will become greater. You will find merchants installing charging stations in their parking lots, which they may cover with solar panels to power the charging stations as well as to power their businesses.
For the Cayman Islands it is imperative that the country get off fossil fuel. The Brent Crude prices today are $116.60 per barrel and the these will only continue to rise in future. A recent report predicts that by 2030 Saudi Arabia will no longer have oil to export as their entire prduction will be used internally. The other hallf of this equation is that their production has flatlined and world demand is rising. Traditionally these islands have imported their oil from South America, however, in a oil constrained world the major comsuming stateds will take the lion's share leaving small island states to take what remains at whatever price the market will bear. Editor
