Here is a story on the engineering challenge being tackled by a very unusual animal: an authoritarian central controlled government backed by a scientific advance, with a giant economy to do it.
We've all talked about electrification of vehicles here before. But always in the context of a carrot rather than a stick: how to make it "attractive" or to get natural consumer interest to shift by doing better design. People talk about the real cons, and pros of the idea.
That is because we all live in the West.
In this scenario, the central government is facing a choking peril and a ticking giant cancer/diabetes/lung failure time bomb. They simply didn't have the luxury of time to solve it, nor do they have to bother about the "market" or the opinions of the "opposition".
There are no more diesel buses in Shenzen.
Over the last 7 years, they became all electric. At a huge cost on the purchases, and the recharging infrastructure.
The result in battery pack manufacture is a drop in the cost by 80%. So the spin-off gains to other cities is huge. And I'm not talking about other Chinese cities. This is potentially going to affect global adoption rates. And guess who will be selling?
It's Government by Nike. Just do it.
It's the sort of giant initiative that we can't see in a conflicted, politically opposed, free market driven economy. If it's based on real problems, and it's real science based solutions, we might well start seeing the Chinese hybrid model of centrally controlled economy pull ahead of the curve because they have unimpeded potential for action.
It all hinges on the intelligence of the central control.
We've all talked about electrification of vehicles here before. But always in the context of a carrot rather than a stick: how to make it "attractive" or to get natural consumer interest to shift by doing better design. People talk about the real cons, and pros of the idea.
That is because we all live in the West.
In this scenario, the central government is facing a choking peril and a ticking giant cancer/diabetes/lung failure time bomb. They simply didn't have the luxury of time to solve it, nor do they have to bother about the "market" or the opinions of the "opposition".
There are no more diesel buses in Shenzen.
Over the last 7 years, they became all electric. At a huge cost on the purchases, and the recharging infrastructure.
The result in battery pack manufacture is a drop in the cost by 80%. So the spin-off gains to other cities is huge. And I'm not talking about other Chinese cities. This is potentially going to affect global adoption rates. And guess who will be selling?
It's Government by Nike. Just do it.
It's the sort of giant initiative that we can't see in a conflicted, politically opposed, free market driven economy. If it's based on real problems, and it's real science based solutions, we might well start seeing the Chinese hybrid model of centrally controlled economy pull ahead of the curve because they have unimpeded potential for action.
It all hinges on the intelligence of the central control.
