The Blog that did not Let me in.

http://www.smartplanet.com/

It's a nice looking site. Great stuff, gorgeous layout.

Hey, I want to add a comment. Sign-in...? okay.

No Twitter integration. Dammit. Must use a lowsy pw. :/

And then this eternal loop, never ever getting me into actually giving the comments!

I tried with Safari 5, Firefox 5. Cleared cookies. Waited overnight. Sent a message to their support (no reply). I should have simply given up. :(

Anyways, here's what my comment would have been:

Not quite true..

Tesla is only one sample. A lot has changed in the auto industry since they started their development. Electricity has become the trend and everyone is planning for e-mobility. This brings part cost down and offers pieces "off-the-shelf" that earlier needed to be manufactured by particular car companies. In other words, car making has become modular in a way that happened to PC's in the 1980's and 90's.

Two sample cases. ERA, the Electric Race About X-prize contender, a project built by a team of Finnish students. Magnificient car. Budget? 1 million euros (half of that goes to the special battery). Wheel engines. Gorgeous drivability. If you them 1 million, they have promised to build you one. That's. not. really. much.

http://www.arcticstartup.com/2010/04/09/era-the-finnish-x-prize-contender

Gordon Murray Design (UK), and their T.27. Gordon Murray does not make cars. They make car factories. But to show the point, they also made this car. Very safe. Gorgeous design (at least me thinks). You can fit two of these, next to each other on a regular lane (= bypassing doesn't need lane change). Three fits in one parking box. Time it took them? Around 1 year.

http://www.gordonmurraydesign.com/press.php

And then there's this thing. PRT transportation that is like electric car, only grade-separated and automated. Really, these things are technically as easy to do as golf carts.

http://www.ultraprt.com/

So with these cases (and some others not listed) I dare to say Tesla looks rather oldish, and there indeed is innovation in the air when it comes to transport. Wether we get new stuff actually on the road fast enough is another matter. Investments will help. They don't have to be in the billions. 10M is great for any of the projects above!

- asko