The rise of the new mobility

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Oregon got a peek at one piece of a sustainable transportation future just before Christmas when Nissan unveiled the Leaf, its new fully electric vehicle, at OMSI. Nissan came here because our electric utilities, state and local officials and citizens showed them we are ready, willing and able to be the place to transform vehicle technology.

But sustainable transportation is about a lot more than getting from Point A to Point B. It involves an entirely new approach to mobility and in the process will create a new industry. A sustainable transportation system requires more than efficient automobiles with low carbon fuels. It requires new linkages across transportation modes, connecting the dots to support seamless, multi-modal (and safe and affordable) door-to-door trips for all transport users.

The opportunity to build this new transportation infrastructure was the focus of a recent conference at the University of Michigan, which brought together business leaders, entrepreneurs, researchers and policy makers from around the world to accelerate the transformation of transportation. (Go here to learn more about the University of Michigan SMART program.) Oregon was well represented underscoring the fact that we are ahead of the curve in part because of a 35-year effort to integrate transportation infrastructure and land use and the state’s investment in transit services and bicycle and pedestrian facilities.

Sustainable transportation systems create real opportunities for business development. Connecting the dots requires new “mobility hubs” for people and goods, physical locations where cars, bikes and pedestrians can connect to transit and rail services and where freight can be transferred from rail to air to marine to trucks. The freight industry is way ahead of passenger services today, using sophisticated supply chain management systems to assure just in time delivery. For example, UPS pioneered use of Geographic Information Systems in its delivery trucks and the use of logistics software to track every parcel around the world.

Just-in-time connections are going to be in everyone’s future. Just look at the transportation applications available for iPhones: real-time information on bus schedules, parking spaces, taxi cabs and the location of every service you may need. At the Michigan conference, all kinds of new companies and new divisions of established companies showed what a New Mobility Industry might look like: Bike Stations, built turnkey by a new company, fast, clean intercity buses from companies like MegaBus, personal zero emission vehicles like those under development by companies like Arcimoto in Eugene, parts makers like Faurecia and information technology companies like Cisco and IBM. They all realize that sustainable transportation systems demand new telecommunications, wireless technologies, sensors, geomatics, product design and real estate solutions.

Oregon has a head start to be more than the place for electric vehicle deployment and sales. We can build from the 2010 launch of 940 Nissan Evs and eTec’s 2,200 charging stations to make Oregon and the Northwest a center of a New Mobility industry cutting across our high tech, manufacturing, construction and other industry clusters. Imagine Intel engineers connecting with ENTEK battery designers, local electric utilities and transit providers like the Hut Airport Shuttle and the Lane Transit District to create a network of mobility hubs throughout the Willamette Valley where people could leave their electric vehicles plugged in during the day, board express buses to major cities, connect through real time information systems to the transportation service they need to get around town.

Innovation happens when companies with disparate businesses join together to solve big problems, like how to get where you want to go when you want to get there with less environmental impact and less stress.

Gail Achterman is the director of the Institute for Natural Resources at Oregon State University and is chair of the Oregon Transportation Commission.