The Next Billion Cars – Experiences in ‘range anxiety’

On a recent trip to the Bay Area, I rented an EV, drove to a rural town on the Mendocino coast, then drove back again. That trip taught me a lot about what it means to drive an EV – and how it changes both thinking and behaviour behind the wheel. It taught me that unless we fundamentally revision how we power personal transportation in the US and Australia, the EV revolution will fade away in favour of hybrid/PHEV vehicles. Co-host Sally Dominguez and I reflect on something that should be easy, yet proves to be surprisingly difficult – as you can see in the video below.

Produced by Ampel.

The Next Billion Cars – “Gradually. Then Suddenly”

“How did you go bankrupt?” begins the oft-quoted line from Hemingway. “Two ways. Gradually – then suddenly.” That’s how the automotive sector feels at the end of 2024, with Nissan maybe preparing for bankruptcy and Stellantis firing its CEO and VW struggling with strikes and low sales and GM shuttering Cruise and on and on and on. Sally Dominguez and Drew Smith join Mark Pesce in studio to explore what’s really happening – and what it all means for THE NEXT BILLION CARS.

We mentioned a few things during our conversation – here are the links:

1) Want to design the car of the Future? Here are 8,000 designs to get you started. (MIT Technology Review)

2) Chinese Carmakers Are Taking Mexico by Storm While Eyeing U.S. (New York Times)

3) And you really should watch Margin Call, a spellbinding drama about the 2008 financial crisis (Wikipedia).

The Next Billion Cars – The $100,000,000,000 Lie

In 2016, Tesla CEO Elon Musk instructed his team of engineers to ‘hard code’ the first demo of what would become ‘Full Self Driving’. A faked video drove panic across the entire automotive sector, leading to massive (and mostly failed) investments in technologies for autonomy.

The Next Billion Cars: Neo-Malaise

What does it mean to walk away from the dream of a lifetime? For series co-host Drew Smith, this is exactly what he’s doing. For over 20 years, he’d dedicated himself to driving positive change in an industry that has resisted it at almost every turn, and he’s done. In this episode of The Next Billion Cars, he explores how the automotive industry has become its own worst enemy, and what might happen next.

The Next Billion Cars – What Happens in Vegas, part DEUX!

Despite some new car announcements from Honda, this year’s Consumer Electronics Show reveals a stagnant automotive sector that seems to have lost its way in the transition to EVs. Co-host Sally Dominguez, Special Correspondent Drew Smith and Mark Pesce find a few bones to pick with the future on offer in Las Vegas – but a surprise from Sharp left the team smelling roses. It’s Las Vegas, baby – with the pedal to the metal, and one foot in the future.

The Next Billion Cars – Horace Dediu in conversation with Drew Smith UNCUT

BONUS EPISODE. We were so happy with Special Correspondent Drew Smith’s rich and powerful interview with Horace Dediu, we wanted to share an episode featuring their complete, unedited conversation.

Drew Smith sat down for an hour-plus interview with Horace Dediu, the ‘father’ of micromobility – Horace coined the word! – exploring its origins and future. Along the way, Horace offers a blistering critique of the failure of the automotive sector to embody the new design possibilities offered by micromobility: transportation choice in our urban centres, and a powerful framework to rethink our transportation networks and cities. 

The Next Billion Cars is proudly made possible by our sponsors GIO Insurance and BMW.

Episode 5.08 – What stands in the way of electric vehicles?

Co-host Sally Dominguez and special correspondent Drew Smith explore the many facets of vehicle electrification with Mark. EVs are finally happening – but does that make them inevitable?

(Pictured: GMC’s new Hummer EV SUV, coming at the end of 2021)

Episode 5.06 – What’s the next fuel after batteries?

Co-host Sally Dominguez looks beyond battery-powered vehicles, opening the door to a future featuring hydrogen, “paste”, and ammonia-powered engines. This diverse transition from fossil fuels enables a range of new vehicles for all of the ways we’ll live and work in the decades to come.

Sally’s new book EPIC Resilience is a great guide to staying match-fit in an ever changing world. Grab a copy here!

Episode 5.02 – Series 5 Predictions: Will you own an electric car this decade?

Prediction: At least half of all passenger vehicles sold by 2030 will be electric, revolutionising transportation – and energy.

Series 5 continues with more bold predictions for the next decade — an era of transition and remediation, as we work across multiple fronts and multiple industries – internationally – to cool the climate.

Episode 4.09 – What lessons has 2020 taught us?

The pandemic has touched every aspect of our lives – forcing us to recalibrate our privacy, our connections with others, even the way we use cash. Walking through series 4, we peek into a few of the significant discoveries in this series – reflecting on what we’ve learned.

This show gave us a chance to touch base with these guests:

Dr. Genevieve Bell is the Director of the 3A Institute at the ANU.
Listen Genevieve on Episode One.

Tiffany Shlain is a filmmaker and author of “24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week“.
Listen to Tiffany on Episode Two.

Dr. Fiona Kerr is the Director of the NeuroTech Institute.
Listen to Fiona on Episode Two.

Sally Dominguez is a futurist and co-host of THE NEXT BILLION CARS.
Listen to Sally on Episode Eleven of THE NEXT BILLION CARS.

Jonathan DeCarteret is the CEO of INDX.capital.
Listen to Jonathan on CRYPTONOMICS.

Mark Jeffrey is CEO of Guardian Circle and a frequent contributor to CRYTPONOMICS.
Listen to Mark on CRYPTONOMICS.

Jess Scully is the Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney and author of “Glimpses of Utopia“.
Listen to Jess on Episode Eight.

George Peppou is the CEO of Vow Food.
Listen to George on Episode Five.

THE NEXT BILLION CARS Episode 7 – The Next Billion Tons

Waste? Not! Designing cars for near-perfect recycling – is it even possible, or do the next billion end up as junk? How do we rethink a sustainable future around billions of automobiles? And can EVs promise zero carbon emissions?

We reference a lot of material on this episode, including this BP report on how much carbon we’re adding to the atmosphere every year. And a great article on recycling shredded automobiles.