Why Are We Bailing Out Car 1.0?

Detroit is getting left behind
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 10, 2008 12:30 PM CST
Why Are We Bailing Out Car 1.0?
Tal Agassi, director of international deployment development for Better Place, demonstrates the use of a charge spot for an electric vehicle at a car park near Tel Aviv, Monday, Dec. 8, 2008.   (AP Photo/Moti Milrod)

In the modern global economy, Thomas Friedman has a simple rule: “Whatever can be done, will be done,” and if you’re not the one doing it, someone else is. Detroit’s automakers aren’t exploring new business models, so other companies are. When one of them clicks, this bailout “will be remembered as pouring billions into the CD business on the eve of the birth of the iPod.”

Much as Steve Jobs grasped the shifting music paradigm, a San Francisco-based company called Better Place wants to shift the mobility paradigm to one similar to a cell phone carrier. Customers lease cars like phones, then pay Better Place to access its network of charging stations. Don’t expect this kind of innovation out of Detroit, which is producing some cars with worse mileage than the Model-T. They’re Car 1.0. Let’s look for 2.0. (More electric vehicles stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X