João Gomes

1. Tell us a little about your journey and your professional experience. How did you become interested in the electric mobility industry?

After finishing the course of Business Administration and Management at Católica I had the opportunity to join a career in senior management consulting.

I went through great schools and had the opportunity to face challenges very quickly and that made me grow on the curve of maturity and learning.

The whole experience, although very varied, had two constant Energy and Telecommunications - sectors where I specialized and deepened perspectives.

When I was 30, I had the idea that I did not want to be in consulting for the rest of my life. It was an interesting but not entirely satisfactory step.

2. Mobiletric is a provider of mobility service provider, with all its offer based on 100% electric vehicles. How did Mobiletric come about? What do they do and what do they expect from the future?

Mobiletric arises in 2015 by joining the will of two major shareholders - CSANTOS VP and the Renovatio Group - bringing together knowledge of the automotive and the electricity worlds (in particular renewable and electric mobility networks).

Mobiletric is and intends to be a transformation agent for a 100% electric mobility. It has three main activities: public network management, offer of renting solutions (of cars, chargers and energy) and offer of solutions of for professionals (eg for UBERs).

Despite the embryonic state of the electric mobility market, we are in a strong phase of investment, we believe that it is necessary to create the conditions for people to trust the electric car and use it in a normal way.

When looking at the future, more than the big trends, we see what we can do for the next six months, and we hope (and we are almost certain) that the shipments will already be charged on the public highway, already present in an international market (we are in the negotiation phase and detail of the opening of an operation in another country) and that our team remains mobilized to build solutions.

3. Electrical mobility is a recent, but growing, reality that has the potential to catalyze the integrated development of new technologies. What do you consider to be the biggest challenge for the electric mobility industry, in Portugal and in the World?

Electrical mobility challenges three mature markets - automobile retail, electricity retail, and white-fuel retail - and if it is commercially successful, nothing will stay the same in these markets.

Hence, there is a natural inertia; which in my opinion should be tackled in a positive way, with new business models and different ways of creating value for the client and for the companies.

In the first phase, we need a strong investment in public and private charging infrastructures, and as these are underway it is necessary to present new business models - use-based, less investment-intensive, and more flexible in exchange.

The electric car will not be a 2.0 Diesel, opens possibilities of value generation in the car-charging-energy link.

Building this ecosystem is the big challenge; which I believe will generate, for example for a country highly dependent on energy such as Portugal, increased decarbonization and consequently less environmental footprint and less dependence on external sources of energy.

4. We would like to know what you think about the visionary Elon Musk?

People like Elon Musk lend their vision and audacity to the projects in which they engage; more recently and noted to Tesla - however, it has since the system of payments, travel and space transport and / or production of electricity (solar tiles), demonstrated all this vision.

I think it's good to be contemporary people with this ability, but more than his vision or genius, I admire his resilience.

Undoubtedly in the automotive industry; there will be the before and after Elon Musk.

It proved that regardless of whether Tesla's future come to be a hit or swallowed up by a traditional manufacturer (eg due to massive accumulated losses), it was necessary to invest in electric mobility; that it was possible and that after all everyone was late and will have to run a lot.

I believe that Tesla, as a car manufacturer, is still childish in manufacturing quality and does not compare with the industry average; I foresee that for 3-5 years Tesla will integrate (merged or purchased) by one of the current leaders of the automotive industry.

5. Electrical mobility is essential to ensure environmental sustainability. In your opinion, what is, or will be, the impact of electric mobility, for the sustainability of the world?

Electrical mobility is the second major step towards decarbonising our society and economic fabric; the first being the industrial scale and grid parity of renewable energies.

The sustainability puzzle is made of small concerted actions, electric mobility will help reduce the weight of hydrocarbons in the transport sector, and therefore, reduce emissions and hopefully at a more mature stage, can also contribute to a more rational use of energy (through the adaptation of uses to routes).

If electric mobility becomes an accepted market solution, we will undoubtedly have a greater capacity to make our society more sustainable - both in environmental terms and even in parity among people.

6. Aware that the future for sustainable mobility is electric mobility, PARTTEAM & OEMKIOSKS is able to develop electric charging stations in digital billboards. What is your opinion about this technology solution? How can this technology be an advantage for the future of Smart Cities?

Smart cities are small intelligent systems that allow you to reduce the resources consumed, reduce usage times and increase user satisfaction.

Therefore, thinking about (offering) intelligent "self-service" technologies or with more "humanized" interaction is a way to enhance the success of the electric car charging experience.

I am sure that PARTTEAM & OEMKIOSKS will have a relevant return on this offer, since it allows operators of loading stations, such as MOBILETRIC, to improve their user experience; and also allows people like our team to develop new services and new ways of establishing the business model.

The cities of the future will be made of these solutions, with the capacity to disseminate information and services - in a simple, managed and communicated way.