Overall, the economics make sense. Produced on an appropriate scale, a kit should cost about US$20,000, including distribution costs and a profit margin. It should take about eight hours for two workers in a professional garage to install such a kit, or less than a week for the car-owner himself/herself (or, as they say, two weeks if the car owner’s spouse “helps”). That’s considerably less than the cost of a new car — especially an electric one.
The real economic benefit, however, is in the cost savings thereafter. To be sure, a lot will depend on the availability of convenient charging stations, but they are starting to appear.
The project is deconstructing the car industry — probably in a more effective way than US government officials are doing in Detroit. In Finland, at least, all you need from the government is a certificate of inspection, which costs about 100 euros (US$135).
NEW JOBS
If all goes well, a host of electric car-engine and retrofit kit makers will appear, serving different markets of existing car owners. Dealers and mechanics will install the batteries, comprising a new corps of workers devoted (indirectly) to cleaning up the environment and adding value to the installed base of cars.
Any far-sighted government could help not by subsidizing these efforts, but by buying up the old gasoline engines. That provides an incentive to retrofitting companies, while competition for customers, rather than for subsidies, will encourage the various providers to be efficient. Many European governments currently have “cash-for-clunker” schemes that buy and destroy old cars; a cash-for-gas-engines scheme would make more sense by lowering costs and conserving the many car bodies that still work fine.
This project might have seemed quixotic a few years ago, but now it fits the times perfectly. It’s modest at a time when the world is in recession. It’s energy and environmentally friendly at a time when concerns about global warming are growing. And it’s distributed, at a time when the world is skeptical of leaders’ promises and people are realizing they have to do things for themselves.
If you want to start an electric engine company, learn how to retrofit a gasoline engine, or simply figure out what you could do with your own car, go to www.ecars-now.org to have a look. There may not yet be a ready-made solution for you unless you live in Finland, but that’s just the point: you can start a local version. If you build it, others will come.
Esther Dyson, chairman of EDventure Holdings, is an active investor in a variety of start-ups around the world. Her interests include information technology, health care and private aviation and space travel. COPYRIGHT: PROJECT SYNDICATE
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