Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said yesterday that the "financial crisis is clearly behind us," which means it's on with the show - the biennial Frankfurt auto show.
We're expecting the hometown German auto makers to make a big splash with electric cars, hybrids and the like. And Volkswagen can be expected to show off its newest brand, Porsche, while unabashedly discussing plans to become the world's biggest and best auto maker by 2018.
But we also expect some surprises.
Take Better Place, the Silicon Valley-based upstart that thinks it has the solution to worries about charging electric cars - the answer to "range anxiety" or the fear of running out of juice with no electric outlet in sight.
Better Place will take a booth for the first time at a major auto show, right next door to Renault. Renault-Nissan and Better Place have formed a technology partnership, you see.
For its part, Better Place plans to showcase the third leg in its three-part strategy to make electric cars just another roaming consumer electronics device.
First came charging stations (Israel), next automated battery swap kiosks (Japan) and now the third pillar…
Well, Pillar Three is being kept under wraps until next week. The smart money says the talk will be of something to do with smart electronic grids.
The Better Place plan is bold and visionary and it's so big in scope that I remain doubtful it will come to fruition as planned.
Better Place wants to create and manage an electric vehicle infrastructure. If it works - a huge, huge if -- electric cars should deliver the same freedom of mobility now provided by gas and diesel cars.
One key element is a broad range of quick-charging stations. Most of the time electric car owners will need nothing else.
But if you're out for a road trip and need plenty of range, automated service stations will be there for owners to swap-out drained batteries and then carry on down the road with a fresh charge in a new battery.
I have to applaud the gutsy idea driving Better Place - to displace oil for electrons on a global scale. The environmental benefits are obvious, but just as important: imagine a world where petro-politics are nothing but a minor sideshow.
The Better Place people - mostly geeky electrical and software engineers -- at least admit one reality: electric cars have to be more affordable and more convenient than regular cars today. They're right. Government subsidies are not the answer.
We're looking forward to details next week in Frankfurt. Because without a way to charge them and keep them on the road for long distances and all at an affordable price, all the electric vehicles and concepts on display in Frankfurt will be nothing more than science fiction oddities.