- 17
- February
2013
Oliver Luenstedt pitches p2p car sharing startup Carzapp
Ecosummit TV: Oliver Lünstedt, CEO of Carzapp, pitches the German p2p car sharing startup. While there are already 3 peer-2-peer car sharing startups in Germany, Carzapp is the first one to have developed their own hardware solution called ZappKit. The ZappKit enables wireless car access with smartphones used as digital keys. The magic hardware box also includes GPS and an immobiliser that prevents theft. Moreover, the Berlin-based startup has an idea for the cost-efficient rollout of electric cars and participates in the electric mobility showcase Berlin-Brandenburg by adapting their platform to support p2p electric car sharing. Carzapp is backed by angels and looks for €1M to enter the German market in the first half of 2013.
Read more- 16
- February
2013
Thomas delos Santos pitches the electric microcar Colibri
Ecosummit TV: Not many people have the guts to found an electric vehicle startup these days. Thomas delos Santos, CEO of Innovative Mobility, is one of them. His pitch at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012 provides the full story behind the electric microcar called Colibri. The Colibri will be unveiled at the auto show in Geneva in March 2013. The light electric vehicle (LEV) for city dwellers will cost €8.9K plus monthly battery leasing costs of €55. Colibri shall hit the market in 2015 and can be pre-ordered in 2014 – provided that Thomas manages to raise the rather large funds needed for series development and production. We cross our fingers as we want to see the smart green Colibri on the street.
Read more- 6
- June
2012
Gorka Espiau pitches Hiriko – the first foldable electric city car designed for car sharing
Ecosummit TV: Gorka Espiau, Head of International Programmes at Hiriko, pitches the Spanish EV startup at ECO12 Berlin. Hiriko aims at reinventing sustainable social mobility in smart green cities by building a foldable electric vehicle optimised for car sharing that was originally invented at the MIT Media Lab. The networked city car shall only be offered in car sharing fleets which is a pretty disruptive distribution strategy. The first prototype is available and Hiriko is looking for investors who want to accelerate their vision of sustainable urban mobility.
Read more- 3
- May
2011
Elon Musk – Super hero of the smart green economy
Elon Musk turns 40 this year and is already the super hero entrepreneur of the smart green economy. Being an engineer he believes entrepreneurship means applying logic and critical thinking to a given problem in order to develop the best new solution. Elon likes to reinvent and reengineer problems on a big scale, especially transportation on the road and in space and production of clean energy. Next to being CEO and Product Architect of Tesla Motors, Elon is also CEO and CTO of SpaceX and Chairman of Solar City.
Read more- 29
- April
2011
Third German Electric Vehicle Congress 8-9 June 2011 in Bonn
The 3rd German Electric Vehicle (EV) Congress takes place on 8-9 June 2011 in Bonn in the former Bundestag, indeed a spectacular conference venue. After attending the 2nd EV Congress last year, I was invited to join the programme advisory board by Michael Carus, CEO of the organiser Nova Institute. Nova Institute is a research and consulting firm that is ususally focused on renewable resources, bio feedstock and biodegradable materials. Together with IAV, the automotive engineers that have 4.000 employees, Nova once again put together an exciting programme looking into the future of mobility.
Read more- 8
- April
2011
Ecosummit TV – ECO11 – Gregor Matthies – Bain & Company
At ECO11, the consultant and automotive expert Gregor Matthies, Partner, Bain & Company, gave a well-prepared overview of the Electric Mobility market. It turns out that German car makers are not leading the development of new EVs which I personally regret. At the same time, this offers new business opportunities for startups that want to develop new electric future cars and sell them later to the OEMs.
Read more- 16
- December
2010
Sustainable Social Mobility with Car and Ride Sharing
Based in Spain’s Basque country, Hiriko is the first company to build the electric City Car developed by MIT’s Medialab. Hiriko sounds Japanese but it is in fact a mix of Basque and Spanish: hiri = urban, ko = short for coche (car). Hiriko’s networked urban cars are designed to be used only as shared cars. Imagine a future where you can take any car when you leave your home or office. Imagine a future where all shared cars are electric. That’s where we have to be.
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