There is a coming revolution in mobility. The future is electric.
But you already knew that.
What you might not know is that there’s a potential democratization of mobility that could change our lives for the better — if governments make smart decisions right now.
While we focus on the electric part of the future, what could also shift is the intellectual-property side of things. The small electric vehicles of the future — e-bikes, e-trikes, e-whatever else — could share key interchangeable components in ways that current automakers do, but in a very limited way.
Why should we care? Cost and simplicity.
Shared components and standardized mounting points would dramatically lower costs for consumers, allow all sorts of new manufacturers to set up shop in places where manufacturing has been fleeing, and offer cutting edge options without having to invest huge amounts in research and development. You could have a scenario where someone buys an e-bike but, rather than replace the whole thing in five or ten years, simply upgrades the motor and battery and saves a whole lot of money.
In short, if we incentivize the next generation of mobility to be more collaborative and sustainable than the current world of auto manufacturers are, we might shift more than just how we move.
Of course, this won’t happen unless we begin to adopt standards for the future electrified mobility world. Standardized sizes and mounting points are not at all sexy. But if we had them we might really allow electrification to take off in ways we haven’t imagined.