Where's the support for innovation in efficiency?
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While the government is busy trying to pack as many fossil-fuel-burning cars onto the roads as possible, others are endeavouring to develop cars that run on rechargeable batteries. GM is proposing an e-car with a 350-kilometre range on one charge.
However GM is having a bit of a problem finding the best batteries for a decent price. Tesla currently has the best long-range batteries, but it owns the patent. It’s ironic that the person who invented batteries, an Italian named Alessandro Volta, offered up his invention for free!
Thailand will come around to using state-of-the-art batteries more and more in the future – for cars and much more. Are there any Thai technicians at the vanguard of battery innovation? There are some with the necessary smarts, but what sort of support or incentives do such innovators get from the government or business? The answer: zero, nada, zilch.
Now, if innovators were working on a new skin-whitening cream (to add to the hundreds already flooding the market), they’d have a wealth of support, from Yingluck on down.
Ken Albertsen
Chiang Rai
