Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumChina's new EV car-sharing (a vending machine?!)
This is a vending machine for tiny shared Chinese electric cars
Lloyd Alter
Transportation / Cars
December 23, 2013
vending machine
Video screen capture Aaron Rockett
The air pollution in Chinese cities is legendary; when I was there recently you could barely see across Tiananmen Square. The traffic is like none North Americans have ever seen as well; Six rings of highways in Beijing, every road completely jammed with cars at all hours of the day. Then there is the problem of parking all those cars, there is just nowhere to put them all.
That's why this car sharing system from Kandi Technologies Group makes so much sense. KTG makes a little Smart-car like electric car that can go 75 miles at up to 50 MPH. They store the cars in giant vertical vending machines that deliver the car on demand. They rent for $3.25 per hour.
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http://www.treehugger.com/cars/electric-car-sharing-may-be-perfect-solution-chinese-cities.html
MADem
(135,425 posts)madokie
(51,076 posts)America, California to be specific had to face the same kind of pollution at one point in the past as some China cities do now and they were able to pull it off. I went out to Riverside California back in the summer of either '72 or '73, can't remember which exactly right now but the air there was so thick with pollution you could slice it with a knife. Well you couldn't see much more, if you could see that far, than a city block.
chpmntsptx
(1 post)I encourage all eco-minded investors to consider this company (NASDAQ: KNDI) and research it's business model further. (Disclosure: I've tracked the company for several months and do own some shares; also, I work in the environmental policy arena.) I would love for this business model to be adopted in my area (Northern VA), where Zipcar and bikeshare are already doing well. Perhaps that will happen in the future. Even if you're not interested as an investor, it's such a remarkable story for its smart growth, smart grid, and transportation implications.
To clarify, Kandi is part of a joint venture that will be producing and selling the EVs for this vending machine program and another "long-lease" program, and Kandi owns a stake in the joint operation entity ("ZZY" that runs the car share. (The news story referenced above has been circulating all over the 'net lately and a lot of the recycled content has been misattributing some key details.)
The car share program is just getting started -- and the potential scale is mind-boggling. They're talking about having thousands of these garages, with the number of EVs in circulation hitting six figures in a couple years, all across some of China's largest cities (they just announced initiation of Shanghai program, and an announcement regarding Beijing could be forthcoming). From my research, I believe the ambition, but I doubt it happens as quickly as reported. Nevertheless, the Chinese national government is providing subsidies for this type of program, and other Chinese policies, like the reduction in license plates available for ICE cars while increasing the amount available for EVs and hybrids, are speeding along the adoption of alt trans. It can't happen soon enough (we've all seen the recent stories on China's air pollution crises).
While this is a Chinese company currently focused on tackling a Chinese pollution problem, we all benefit if their execution comes anywhere close to their ambition/plans. Beyond helping to reduce global pollution, if their business model really takes off, we might see it adopted or copied in other countries.
If you are interested in learning more (and there's so much more going on that I can't to cover here), I welcome you to join the following Yahoo private message board: http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/KNDI/conversations/messages. That board was created by investors, so it's weighted in that sense, but there you'll find many news articles and links covering this program and other related developments.
TLDR Summary: Kandi is a Chinese company that is part of a leaps-and-bounds, government-backed effort to replace ICE vehicles with EVs throughout China, while also enabling millions of urban Chinese residents who currently cannot access or cannot afford a vehicle with cheap, green transportation options. This effort will help reduce China's air pollution, and thus, global air pollution, and hopefully will spread to other countries. Kandi is NASDAQ listed, so you can invest in this story if you are so inclined.
gopiscrap
(23,766 posts)madokie
(51,076 posts)I hope you find you like it here