Jonathan Smith's Library tagged commerce →  View Popular

Plug-In Hybrid Cars Enter the Fast Lane -- We Hope



In 2002, I founded CalCars as a company to advance cars that get over

100 MPG of gasoline. They're called "plug-in hybrids" (PHEVs),

because you can just plug in to 120 volts at home.. Electric for

commuting, gasoline-fueled for longer drives, they're a quantum step

beyond today's hybrids.



It took us four years to make largely unknown PHEVs a recognized path

for automotive development. We built awareness and enthusiasm. Our

open-source-style PRIUS+ conversions proved what's possible.



Along the way we morphed into a dot-org -- a "non-profit startup." We

became PHEV evangelists and helped catalyze a national movement. In a

great cross-country policy stunt, our prototypes showed up at the

U.S. Capitol.



Our timing has been on target. PHEVs respond to three national

preoccupations: skyrocketing fuel prices, global warming and

addiction to oil. When people hear about "cleaner, cheaper, domestic"

PHEVs, the lightbulb goes on.



So why have car-makers remained reluctant to embrace our technology,

and try to make a bundle off it? They're reactive, work in long

product cycles. and don't believe people will pay more up-front. And

they can't see beyond resolveable technical concerns, especially on

batteries.



How can we go further? Wise voices have long urged us to start a

company. "Change the auto industry by proving your solution can make

money." It helps to have people like top VC John Doerr tell us,

"Plug-in hybrids are a really big deal. They are practical,

profitable and urgently needed."



So now we want to launch an ambitious for-profit. We're talking with

other leading PHEV innovators about combining talents and acquiring

funding to operate in the high-stakes world. We're hatching plans to

rapidly deliver PHEV conversions to fleets and individuals; work on

original designs; license our intellectual property; and keep innovating.



We'll make customers and partners out of car-makers, suppliers and

integrators. Ford, GM and others could get a boost from PHEVs, as

could emerging Chinese entrants. (Toyota could do it now, but may

wait until 2010.)



Meanwhile, as an industry in a tailspin drags its heels on

innovation, PHEV engineers continue to patent answers to technical

challenges that car-makers haven't yet encountered.



Washington is deciding how to make the President's words come true

when he says, "You've got your car, you pull in, you plug it right in

the wall." (Like I do every night.) And a half-dozen states are about

to put tens of millions into PHEV programs.



PHEVs help GreenTech become the next big thing. The Environmental

Entrepreneurs (E2) organization is getting involved. VC partners have

driven our cars and talked about them as examples of innnovation.



We've started evaluating potential partners and markets. We're

talking with angels and VCs about borrowing an entrepreneur-in

residence, helping to recruit auto industry veterans and getting seed

funding. We try to involve people who've already made their fortunes

and are looking to build useful profitable companies. We invoke the

spirit of Steve Jobs' recruitment pitch, "Do you want to sell sugar

water for the rest of your life -- or do you want to change the world?"



We're teeing up opportunities. Progress can be frustrating and

difficult -- like any startup. But we're having the most fun of our lives!



I'm the world's first consumer owner of a PHEV. Wherever I park,

people say, "I want one. I'll pay almost anything. Can I get one?" I

answer, "Not yet," then, "How about a tax-deductible contribution or

a seed investment so we can make it all happen?"



The for-profit company I want to build will have a better answer: "Yes."