Promoting the wider use of electrical vehicles in Hong Kong : a strategic proposal

Abstract

This paper sets to point out that pure technological advancement is not enough for innovation with a significant impact to the society. Good technology has to be commercialized and transformed into useful, useable, and desirable products or services, and formulated into a viable business models, or else it could never be widely adopted by the public. Studies indicate that most successful product innovation cases integrated technological feasibility with human desirability and business viability, and the critical tool to integrate the three essential factors is Design. To demonstrate this argument, this paper seeks to employ this methodological framework to design for Hong Kong a rental and sharing service integrating appropriate EV technologies with customer-focused understandings and a feasible business model. The strategic proposal focuses on utilizing electric vehicles shared by the growing population of HongKong-Shenzhen cross-border travelers, aiming to formulate a successful prototype-showcase for the Hong Kong government and the public on how to promote the wider use of electric vehicles in future.