A mindset change and embracing new technology as a “custom design” are the keys to successful innovation, the co-founder of Tesla Motors told delegates at the RICS World Built Environment Forum in London today.
JB Straubel, co founder and chief technology officer of the electric car company, said that sticking to doing things the way they have always been done while trying to integrate new technology is a pitfall many sectors fall into.
He said: “Doing something with new technology in mind as custom design is difficult for established industries like transportation and real estate as there is a rule book and ways that things have been done in the past.
“The lesson is that you really have to throw that book away.
“You have to challenge the whole way things are done. Because actually it is much more expensive to try to upgrade and adapt existing things, like buildings, than to start building the change in from the beginning.”
He added that one of Tesla’s major challenges would be expanding “seamless” charging in high-density cities and that landlords would become an increasingly important part of the solution.
“There must be a better way to interface between new building technologies and our vehicles,” said Straubel.
He also touched on Tesla’s move into the residential sector following the firm’s $2.6bn purchase of SolarCity, the biggest solar panel company in the US, in 2016.
This was a strategic move made off the back of a realisation that electric cars and buildings can only be as successful as the provision of their power source.
“Now we can sell people their own solar panels so they can generate their own solar electricity at home,” he said.
To send feedback, e-mail emily.wright@egi.co.uk or tweet @EmilyW_9 or @estatesgazette
