Five good reasons to believe in a Swiss-made electric vehicle
While Tesla's Model 3 has still not been released, the brand's share price has fallen from $385 on 18 September to $315.05 on 20 November, and Bob Lutz — a luminary of the automotive world — has announced Tesla's imminent bankruptcy. Elon Musk remains undeterred and has just announced, in quick succession, the launch of an electric truck and a roadster. While the American company tries to advance the cause of electric vehicles and some European and Asian brands have already industrialised their models, our country seems to be watching this innovation — one that could significantly improve our future — slip past right under its nose.
And yet it is more urgent than ever to ask ourselves about the future of a Swiss-made electric vehicle. Here are five good reasons to believe in its possibility.
1. A world leader in "innovation"
If Tesla set up at the heart of Silicon Valley, it was not without reason. For such a project to come to life, it needs a fertile environment that can nurture the ideas and creativity germinating in the minds of the best engineers. Without this breeding ground and the healthy emulation it produces, it is hard to imagine how such a technological leap could be undertaken. From this perspective, Switzerland has nothing to envy the fertile Californian landscape: are we not regularly ranked among the most innovative countries in the world? In its 2017 ranking, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) elected Switzerland the most innovative country in the world — a title confirmed by the European Patent Office (EPO), which named us 2017 world champion for patent filings per capita. To complete the picture, Switzerland boasts prestigious universities such as EPFL and ETH Zurich for engineering, and the University of St Gallen for business and economics — two essential pillars for renewing the generations of innovators succeeding one another in our country, who will enrich the active minds thinking about the electric vehicle. Finally, according to the IMD World Talent Ranking, our country is the 2017 champion of talent attractiveness.
2. Fulfilling Nicolas Hayek's dream
If the environment is essential, it is nothing without the individuals who can emerge from it. From this perspective, our country has been fortunate. One thinks of Bucherer, Bloch, Schindler, Pugin, Kudelski — but above all, in the automotive sector, of Nicolas Hayek. The brilliant inventor of the Smart had a dream. He started from zero to develop in its entirety this pharaonic project of the smallest motorised urban vehicle. His dream was imbued with values: adapting to the challenges of urban driving, improving the driver experience, and respecting the environment. Let us recall that Nicolas Hayek wanted to create a popular vehicle accessible to all. From that perspective, his dream never reached its conclusion. Why not take it up again?
3. Mastery of strategic components
Among the components of an electric car, several are essential: the motor controller, the motor, the chassis-damper, and of course the battery — today the most strategic and the most costly component. The challenges are numerous: recycling, fast charging times, low footprint (weight), energy storage, environmental sensitivity, safety, and production cost.
Our country has strong assets in battery innovation and R&D. I myself, with my teams, worked on the development of a battery management system that made it possible to optimise the performance of traditional lithium-ion accumulators by 30 to 50%. Companies such as Bellenos Clean Power (Swatch Group) and Renata are at the forefront. ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute have also collaborated to develop a process that could improve the performance of traditional lithium-ion accumulators by 30 to 50%.
4. A culture of exceptional vehicles
We have already mentioned the Smart, which was in its own way an exceptional vehicle. Let us also recall the prestigious Monteverdi brand. These represent two "extreme models" of Swiss know-how in the automotive industry.
We believe that if a new brand were to emerge to launch an electric vehicle, it would also need to pursue this quest for the exceptional. Through its design, its technological capabilities, and its accessibility, this vehicle must embody the Swiss industrial culture that has always commanded respect and admiration throughout the world.
5. The capacity to invest
In his book From Zero to One, Peter Thiel commends his friend Elon Musk for knowing how to seek out state support where it was available when he needed it most. Many say Tesla would never have reached its current position without subsidies, and some go so far as to argue that if the company is not in its best shape today, it is because it has exhausted those subsidies. Let us trust in the many investors our country has to never reach that situation, which is the hallmark of the use of public money. We have sufficient private funds and investors. They will know how to stay close to the industrialists, guide the project in the right direction, help them make the right choices — while leaving them the freedom necessary for creativity, but also holding them accountable.
If this Swiss-made electric vehicle were to come into being, there is no doubt that Swiss motorists alone would constitute an interesting first market: let us recall that our country is, after Norway, the country in Europe with the most electric and hybrid vehicles in circulation.
But let us have no doubt whatsoever that such a vehicle would export without difficulty. Knowing that we are in an innovative market segment where technology still needs to prove itself to be convincing, Switzerland starts with an advantage: the reliability of its technology precedes it.
But for this to happen, we will need to develop on our own territory the production techniques that are entirely within our grasp. We will also need all the relevant players to work together on a shared project.
Once these two conditions are met, everything is possible — and we could even push ambition as far as the launch of an autonomous vehicle.
What are we waiting for to get on board the electric vehicle train?
