Walking through the Congress Center is like flipping through an illustrated history of the modern world. The faces and personalities of those who step in and out of various sessions and meetings are so familiar - and yet unusually 3-dimensional. George Soros shaking hands with throngs of suited Davos visitors; France's President Sarkozy, making his way through the path cleared by his security entourage, after speaking on the need for the IMF to supervize and stabilize economic imbalances. To a first-time visitor, the celebrity and influence of those gathered here are unmatched.
To be sure, the LEAF and Fluence ZE are a bit of celebrities themselves in this environment. People recognize them, engage with them and continue to ask questions about what electric car technology means in 2011 and beyond. Journalists can't get enough of the topic. While the new electric car was referenced in this morning's FT as a "pet project" of Mr. Ghosn, the long-term investment by the Alliance into the cars and the supportive infrastructure and the strategy around EVs are taken seriously by those here at Davos. During his morning interviews with New Delhi Television, with 53 million viewers, Mr. Ghosn said that the case for EVs gets better as regulations on CO2 emissions grow tighter, the price of oil rises and governments' desire to decrease their dependency on oil grows. "As you know, 50% of oil consumed globally goes to transportation," said Mr. Ghosn. In his Fox Business interview, he said that Nissan's challenge is now to ramp up production, to meet its 26,000 LEAF orders.
The dialogue surrounding the electric car will continue this afternoon, amidst all the other major trends expected to be relevant in 2011...