Robert H. Smith School of Business - University of Maryland, College Park

Dingman Center Gathers Students for Intriguing Real-life Business Lesson on Using the Past to Shape the Future

Michael Granoff was astounded when he found out about Professor David Kirsch’s research. Granoff was meeting with team members at Project Better Place, a California-based startup electric vehicle company, when someone started passing around Kirsch’s book, “The Electric Vehicle and the Burden of History.”

“It was the hottest commodity in the room,” Granoff said. He and his colleagues couldn’t believe that the electric car concepts they had built their company around were actually more than 100 years old.

The excitement led to a meeting with Kirsch a few weeks later — April 23 — at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. In a session organized by the school’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, Granoff met with Kirsch, an associate professor of entrepreneurship, and a small group of students, faculty and staff to talk about Project Better Place and his mission to reduce the world’s dependency on oil. Granoff is banking on history repeating itself – just as electric light replaced kerosene oil lamps more than a century ago, he’s convinced electricity will replace oil to power vehicles.

Granoff joined with Israeli businessman Shai Agassi – who was in line for the top position at software giant SAP – to raise $200 million in venture investment to launch Project Better Place in 2007. In January 2008, the startup announced a partnership with Renault-Nissan and the State of Israel to develop an electric recharge grid network infrastructure for cars. In March, the company signed a deal to introduce its environmentally friendly electric car system in Denmark.

“It’s not rocket science,” Granoff said. “We’re not inventing anything, just taking technology and components that already exist and putting them together.” The model now has Renault-Nissan fitting a five-passenger sedan with a battery and plug-in capabilities. Users will pay a monthly pre mium to utilize the company’s recharging networks and batteries based on how many miles they drive. To recharge, they’ll plug cars in at night, or for longer trips, swap out for fully charged battery packs at exchange stations.

It seems revolutionary, but the concept is far from new. As a business historian, Kirsch has studied the history of the electric car, which precedes gas-powered vehicles. He says the mistakes of the past and the previous failures of the electric car could offer important lessons as the young Project Better Place moves forward.

“One of the myths of entrepreneurship is that great success stories are always focused around new technology innovation,” said Asher Epstein, managing director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. “We wanted students to see an example of taking an old business model and applying it in a fresh environment. This is a great lesson for an aspiring entrepreneur.”

Granoff’s Smith audience asked many questions about the future of Project Better Place – in particular, how the company plans to crack the U.S. market and what’s on the horizon for the startup. Granoff said to watch for the company to launch a consumer brand by the end of the year, and it likely will announce additional partnerships with countries and automakers. However, he said the tax policies and economics in the United States pose barriers to entry in the domestic market.

“He was so passionate – he’s genuinely committed to reducing oil consumption,” said Allison Armitage, a senior marketing major who, with a team of university students, is working on her own sustainable startup transportation network that utilizes bikes. “The company’s forward-thinking mission inspires me and is a great example that you can be socially responsible and have a successful business at the same time.”

Kirsch said he was glad students had a chance to learn about Project Better Place’s vision for the future of the electric car and he was happy to speak with Granoff about the industry’s past. They are hoping to continue their conversation this summer, with Kirsch planning a trip to the company’s Palo Alto headquarters to meet with the Granoff’s team members, who no doubt will be enthusiastic to learn the lessons of the electric car’s past.

▓ Carrie Handwerker, Office of Marketing Communications