Kickstart: Electrifying car buyers

In Sarah Kominek's story (running in print versions of Plastics News this week and online here), consultant Mike Dovorany talks about the balance between the buzz for electric vehicles and actual sales figures.

After all, EVs make up only about 2 percent of the U.S. car fleet, although demand in China — the world's biggest auto market — is driving some of the interest by global automakers.

"EV is an interesting space given the fact that there's so much energy and resources being put into them, and yet in a lot of ways there's a continued frustration of 'why aren't we seeing the results we would like,'" Dovorany said.

But 15 percent of potential car buyers say they are just "waiting for the right product," he added.

Those varieties are coming, with crossover vehicles, SUVs and — in what may be the highest profile — an electric version of Ford Motor Co.'s F-150 pickup.

In September, Ford said it was investing $700 million at its Ford Rouge manufacturing complex to add hybrid and electric powertrains for the 150.

In a news release about the investment, Ford noted that the electric 150 will offer more horsepower and torque plus additional storage capacity. Will that drive sales? We'll probably find out in a few years.

The word entrepreneur typically is applied to a single founder of a company. But I think we all know that while one person may be at the center of a company's structure, there are far more people involved.

Maybe you're putting in long hours to get your business going, but your husband is keeping everything at home running smoothly. Or maybe your kids are spending part of their weekend running errands or sweeping up the shop floor.

Maybe you've been able to press your niece into creating a website or social media presence for your company.

The reason I'm thinking about this is the story told by M. Holland Co. in commemorating the life of co-founder Joan Holland. (You can read the obituary written by Frank Esposito here.)

While the company was named for her husband, Marvin, it was Joan Holland who provided the startup cash: $600 she'd saved. The table that they used as they starting M. Holland? It came from Joan's aunt. The typewriter was borrowed from Joan's father.

So the next time you hear something honoring an entrepreneur, just remember that there's probably an entire team behind that word.

There has been a lot of news the last few days related to recycling plastic bottles back into more plastic bottles.

But there's also an update on efforts to turn scrap plastics into roads. Netherlands-based PlasticRoad recently received a 700,000 euro ($820,000) grant to support its move from pilot projects to industrial production.

The program recycles scrap plastics into surfaces and support systems for road surfaces that can be dropped into place. The pilot project used them for parking lots and bike paths, but backers say it can go into roadways as well.