Bertrand Piccard
Founder & Chairman of Solar Impulse
Bertrand Piccard, Founder and Chairman of Solar Impulse, shares his motivation to break records in sustainable mobility.
A few words from...
Hi! I’m Bertrand Piccard, Swiss medical doctor, psychiatrist and explorer.
What keeps you motivated to always break records in the sustainable transportation?
Firstly, what I love to do is to achieve great challenges, things that seem impossible.
For instance, in 1999, fly non-stop around the world in a balloon. Moreover, in 2016 fly around the world again but this time in a solar-powered airplane. Given that, it means an electric airplane ran by the energy of the sun.
Furthermore, now on the ground, the trends of mobility interest me a lot because it has to match with Solar Impulse.
Do you drive electric?
I drive of course full electric cars.
In addition, I also made a world record with hydrogen. For instance, the longest trip on only one tank of hydrogen. That was with a Hyndai Nexo.
What mobility trends do you see for the future?
Certainly, I think the trends for mobility will be like this: it will be electric, batteries or hydrogen. However, it needs to be with an electric engine because it is much more efficient.
Indeed, there will be autonomous driving. Simultaneously, there will be car-sharing in the context of sharing economy.
Additionally, we will have to retrofit the combustion engine cars with electric motors. Significantly, this is also interesting for the industry. The industry of retrofitting combustion engine cars.
Main challenges to come for you and Solar Impulse?
In general, it goes into this vision of being more energy efficient. Especially, more resource efficient and the Solar Impulse Foundation has launched now a new challenge.
On the ground this time, not in the air. Following, to identify, select and label 1000 solutions. In either case, it can be technologies, systems, products, materials, etc.
In order to protect the environment but in a financially profitable way.
What's the plan?
Firstly, It is to bring this portfolio of 1000 profitables solutions to heads of states in another around-the-world trip.
Not the trip of the solar-powered airplane but in particular, the trip of the solutions.
Next, the portfolio given to all the heads of states, big corporations, institutions. In order to give them the tools to adopt much more ambitious energy policies and environmental targets.
Mobility Makers Team
