The Electric Vehicle Revolution: Five Visionaries Leading the Charge

by Kenneth K. Boyer

Overview

A Fascinating Look at the 5 Leading Personalities Driving the Transition to Electric Vehicles and Reinventing the Auto Industry

The leading car manufacturing firms have all essentially pledged to transition from traditional carbon dioxide-emitting vehicles to battery-powered electric vehicles. Tesla has led the way to date, recently producing its three millionth car since its first sale in 2009. General Motors has committed to carbon neutrality in its global products and operations by 2040. Honda has committed to carbon neutrality as well as zero traffic collision fatalities by 2050. These are ambitious and noble goals, yet they will take a supreme transformation to achieve.

In The Electric Vehicle Revolution, Kenneth K. Boyer highlights the promise, perils, and personalities of the world’s automobile makers as they re-engineer a post-carbon present and future. Driving the narrative is the key to it all: the green transformation of the global auto parts supply chain. This book includes never-before-reported stories of the leaders, designers, engineers, and inventors leading the charge to decarbonize the transportation sector from packaging to tires and more.

Boyer examines the prospects and plans for this disruptive change, starting with stories of several automotive visionaries: Tesla CEO Elon Musk; Vietnam billionaire Pham Nhật Vuong; Ceer CEO Jim DeLuca; Monolith Corp cofounder Rob Hanson; and GM CEO Mary Barra. Each protagonist has a vision for transforming the world of transportation into a greener, more carbon-friendly industry while also earning profits in our predominantly capitalist world. Readers will learn how their breakthroughs and struggles illuminate the future while facing the question: Will an auto revolution lead the world to a more sustainable economic future, or will it be too late?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538190746
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/06/2024
Pages:	266
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.85(d)

About the Author

Kenneth K. Boyer is a supply chain management researcher with over fifty peer-reviewed publications and the author of two prior books, Extending the Supply Chain and Operations and Supply Chain Management for the 21st Century. He is also a Fisher-designated professor of operations and business analytics in the Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University. Boyer has been researching and teaching supply chain management for three decades and has been an automobile enthusiast since riding in his father’s 1965 Corvette Stingray. His first car was a Ford and he currently drives a Tesla Model 3. He lives in Columbus, Ohio.

Read an Excerpt

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Excerpt from the Preface

In addition to believing that electric cars provide a better driver experience than gasoline-powered cars, I also believe the adoption of electric vehicles is one of the best waysto reduce carbon emissions worldwide. But transitioning from gasoline to electricity as a power source requires a transformation of epic proportions. It requires rebuilding society through investments, from mining to production and assembly to the underlying energy grid that powers our daily lives.

My hope is that readers of the book will identify with some of the people profiled while recognizing that it is completely human to innovate and try new things, only to discover over time that any new product or process inevitably has both positive and negative features. As humans advance and gain new knowledge, we hopefully work to mitigate the negatives or unintended consequences of new technologies or systems of living. This book is intended to help readers increase their understanding of the pluses and minuses of electric vehicles, as well as the challenges and opportunities associated with the transformation process.

The book is written so that it can be read in two different ways. The chapters are laid out in a manner that is intended for cover-to-cover reading. At the same time, it is challenging to provide more than a superficial explanation of many of the technical and supply chain challenges involved with changing power sources, packaging, tires, and the overall supply network in a purely linear manner. Thus, the book is organized around the introductory chapter, followed by a strategic analysis of key factors that must be mastered for success. Chapter 2 is titled, pun intended, “Gears of Change.” The second section profiles four auto manufacturers driving the industry: Tesla, Vinfast, General Motors, and Honda. The third section focuses on two technical areas where the industry (both the auto manufacturers and their supply network) are pushing for both environmental and societal change: “Power Sources” and “Tires.” The last chapter, “Driving It Home,” seeks to pull the story together and provides forecasts regarding the chances for success for the individuals and companies described throughout the book. Alternatively to a straight read through, readers also are encouraged to pick and choose the chapters they find most interesting, as my intention is that any of these chapters can stand on its own as a story and analysis.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. A Tale of Automotive Visionaries

2. Gears of Change

3. The Birth and Evolution of Muskla

4. Forged in Flint

5. Vietnamese Visions

6. Reinventing General Motors

7. Honda the Nervous Giant

8. Power Sources

9. Tires, Tires Everywhere

10. Driving it Home

Bibliography

Notes

Index

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

In his new book, The Electric Vehicle Revolution: Five Visionaries Leading the Charge, Kenneth K. Boyer captures and details critical insights regarding the birth and development of the EV revolution essential for understanding its impact and future course. He then goes beyond by surfacing and exploring the widespread implications this wave will have on society, energy, and the environment.

Joe Cole

Kenneth K. Boyer’s The Electric Vehicle Revolution focuses on a handful of companies and players at the forefront of EV evolution, while applying his own “gears of change” formula as a yardstick for success. A key cog, in Boyer’s eyes, is transforming the supply network, an element that has been skillfully deployed by Elon Musk and his team, underpinning the success of EV leader Tesla.

Paul Lienert

Kenneth K. Boyer is a car lover, an enthusiast, and a respecter of the automobile sector and its history who as a passionate observer has shared an honest, fascinating, understanding assessment of what is truly an electric vehicle revolution. He outlines in straightforward detail the history of the humanness of key auto industry visionaries, which he states were not always guaranteed success, and then digs deeply into the realities of the EV transition, including “elephants in the room” of global and domestic opportunities. He doesn’t sugarcoat anything as he lays out on the table of our minds key realities from an environmental sustainability perspective, so many opportunities and challenges facing the automobile and mobility sectors, and the leaders that are transforming with extraordinary speed how we will be traveling to and from cities and towns across America in the future.

Steve Hellem

Essential reading for those driving the EV industry transformation, The Electric Vehicle Revolution provides a captivating exploration of the global shift toward electrification. Boyer intricately weaves the stories of key players within his “three gears of change,” establishing metrics for an organization’s effectiveness in driving transformation. Mirroring our pursuits at the University of Michigan Electric Vehicle Center, these efforts underscore the pivotal role of innovation and collaboration in building momentum while shaping the future of transportation.

Alan Taub

A fascinating and compelling study of the rise of the electric vehicle from its origins until today, focusing on the well-known players but also less-well-known but important new firms such as Vietnam’s VinFast. The book also examines the potential reinvention of how we make tires, in a bid to reduce emissions. An essential addition to the growing literature on the electric vehicle industry—which will be one of the key economic growth sectors this century.

Henry Sanderson

Boyer, an author, professor, and self-proclaimed car enthusiast, tells a story about the automotive industry's evolution toward embracing electric vehicles, appealing because they help reduce carbon emissions and rely less on fossil fuels. Boyer is an advocate for electric vehicles and is passionate about the research that is ongoing, calling the transformation a “rebuilding of society.” In this book, readers can take one of two journeys: read cover-to-cover, or pick and choose chapters. The book begins with an introduction and a strategic analysis of success factors for electric vehicles, followed by profiles of three well-known auto manufacturers, General Motors, Tesla, and Honda, as well as Vinfast, out of Vietnam. He forecasts their success in selling electric cars before shifting topics to environmental and societal change. Readers will be drawn to the conversational style and organization of the book, helping them grasp the industrial challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. This book is for those interested in the technological shift from gas-powered to electric vehicles, the future of the automotive industry, and the people who are impacted by the change.

Booklist

Thank you, Kenneth K. Boyer, for empowering insights from leaders who are pushing vital and challenging frontiers. The Electric Vehicle Revolution: Five Visionaries Leading the Charge offers insights into their inspiring mindsets, practices, courage, and vulnerability. Further, the global automaker sector, from the industrial to the electric revolution, remains a critical realm for learning and impact. Boyer opens the hood, leveraging historic insights with deep modern research, unpacking patterns and variations across the visions of Elon Musk, Mary Barra, Pham Nat, Jim DeLuca, and Rob Hanson.

Marianne W. Lewis