Watching the major auto manufacturers killing themselves to release a green product is embarrassing in a way similar to watching an aging, cortisone-infused quarterback rely on his running game because he can’t perform well in the pocket anymore. Despite amassing nearly twenty years of experience designing, developing and producing green vehicles, the leading car companies have largely failed to introduce a product that addresses two critical problems facing green transportation: building a zero-emissions car everyone wants and anyone can afford. At last week’s North American International Auto Show the leading car companies proudly displayed concept cars and products with names like EcoBoost, FCX Clarity, and Green Line, though none presented an operational business model for bringing these so-called green vehicles to the mass market. By way of comparison, it took GM only eight years to develop the H2 and market it successfully in the U.S. and abroad. While the titans in Detroit were busy rolling out their shiny new toys, recent announcements from India and Israel proved much more significant for the long term trajectory of the green transportation sector. The release of Tata Motors’ new $2,500 car - the Nano - for the Indian consumer market will let millions more access the roads while generating thousands of tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Why is this good news? I attended a talk at Harvard Business School a few months ago where Vinod Khosla argued no green transportation breakthroughs would be significant unless they scaled to a $2,000 car for sale in the Indian or Chinese market. The Tata Nano’s release and commercial viability represent the ideal opportunity for complimentary development of a zero-emissions power train. While not as sexy as the Coskata-GM deal, an Indian green vehicle supplier would have a major impact in a country without the deeply ingrained gasoline infrastructure that cripples such development in the U.S. market. You’re probably wondering about that other big announcement. Well, just as in the solar markets, some of the real vehicle innovations can be found in the business models bridging the gap between technology and consumers. Yesterday Shai Agassi’s Project Better Place, in conjunction with Renault-Nissan, announced a $1 billion project aimed at the complete elimination of gas-burning cars in Israel by 2017. Project Better Place will deploy 500,000 charging stations throughout Israel for use with lithium-ion powered ZEVs developed by Renault-Nissan. The charging station network will draw power from Israel’s vast network of PV and CSP arrays, while PBP is hoping Israel’s ZEV tax incentive will drive consumers to buy the Renault-Nissan car at levels sufficient to accomplish their 2017 goal. The rest of the business model is akin to the a wireless subscription, with drivers buying charging time in a way similar to buying cell phone minutes. The Tata Nano represents a least-cost option for one-sixth of the global population to achieve four-wheeled mobility, while PBP’s distributed-generation model is a feasible solution for bridging the gap between available technology and a carbon-conscious consumer base. If we combine these recent advances with the large number of small green transportation manufacturers (Tesla, Reva, Aptera, Venture Vehicles, Th!nk, ZAP!, A123, etc.) we start to get a picture of a growing transportation industry completely decentralized from the traditional Detroit-based distribution and manufacturing models. With so much capital sunk into their existing manufacturing capabilities, the major auto manufacturers are likely loathe to retool on the scale required to realize real change. In other words, if the Detroit’s commitment to green transportation were real, their concept cars wouldn’t be so conceptual. Despite the success of these smaller companies, however, the participation of a larger organization with the engineering and manufacturing capability and global reach necessary to revolutionize this industry is probably necessary.