3FOOD

Third Industrial Revolution Consulting Group
vehicles, which travel nearly empty and spend over 90% of their time standing still, often
occupying valuable space in crowded city centers. A further inefficiency comes from reliance on
a human being for driving and wayfinding. Humans too often are not adequately informed,
leading to poor decisions and errors. Last, but not least, unnecessary travel – a consequence of
the car-centered Second Industrial Revolution social organization – represents another major
source of inefficiency. These aspects of inefficient mobility will be dealt with in this chapter, and
solutions will be proposed.
1 Shift Towards Emission-Free Vehicles
The current system for the mobility of persons and goods is almost totally reliant on fossil fuels,
especially within urban areas. This reliance derives mainly from the abundant availability of
fossil fuels as a relatively cheap and convenient energy source, the presence of a welldeveloped
distribution network and the lack of truly competitive alternatives. The use of fossil
fuel results in very low energy efficiency, not higher than 25%, and the production of high
quantities of noxious pollutants, especially fine particulate matter and nitrogen oxides, as well
as CO2 and other greenhouse gases, not to mention noise.
Electric motors can achieve 3-4 times the energy efficiency of thermal motors, do not produce
any local pollution or GHG emissions, and produce less noise. If they are powered by
renewable, non-pollutant sources, pollution and GHG emissions can be eliminated completely.
Even if the applied technologies are more expensive and less convenient than those associated
with the use of fossil fuels, the global advantages of the electrification of mobility are so
numerous that it justifies the shift to the new Third Industrial Revolution mobility.
Several trends are converging to ensure a speedy transition into a new mobility era:
- The exponential decrease in fixed and marginal costs of renewable energies
- Other similar initiatives in Europe in favor of e-mobility (Norway, NL, France)
- The advantage of a small-sized country with short-distance commutes, favoring electric
vehicles
- Increased access to solar PV energy (e-battery use)
A recent Bloomberg study on e-mobility calculates that in the mid-2020s, EVs will become
cheaper in their total cost of ownership (TOC) than conventional vehicles.
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