Better Place

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This article is about the company. For the film, see A Better Place.
Better Place
Type Venture backed private
Industry Transport
Founded 2007
Founder(s) Shai Agassi
Headquarters Palo Alto, California, U.S.
Key people Shai Agassi (Founder)
Idan Ofer (Chairman)
Ziva Patir (Vice President, International Standardization)
Moshe Kaplinsky (BP Israel CEO)
Evan Thornley (BP Australia CEO)
Kiyotaka Fujii (BP Head Asia Pacific-Japan)
Lawrence Seef (Head of Business Development, Americas)
Aliza Peleg (VP of Operations)
Joe Paluska (Chief Marketing Officer)
Karen Alter (Marketing Vice President)
Products Electric cars and recharging stations on subscription
Website BetterPlace.com

Better Place is a venture-backed American-Israeli company based in Palo Alto, California that aims to develop and sell transportation infrastructure that supports electric vehicles.

According to Shai Agassi, the company's founder and CEO, his vision was inspired by a question asked by Klaus Schwab at the 2005 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland: "How do you make the world a better place by 2020?"[1]

Better Place claims to be building its first electric vehicle network in Israel, and among its partners has selected Denmark and Hawaii[2] as the other two test markets due to their small size.[3] Denmark and Israel have enacted policies, which create a tax differential between zero-emission vehicles and traditional cars,[4][5] to accelerate the transition to electric cars. Better Place plans to deploy the infrastructure on a country-by-country basis.

The company has said it is in talks with more than 25 additional regions around the world.[6] Australia,[7] Ontario,[8] Oregon,[9] and California[10] also have announced deployment of Better Place electric car networks. The company opened its first functional charging station in Israel the first week of December 2008 at Cinema City in Pi-Glilot, and additional stations in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Kfar Sava, Holon, and Jerusalem are being planned and installed.[11] Better Place's primary R&D facility is located in Tel Aviv.[12]

Contents

[edit] Launch

The company was publicly launched, as Project Better Place, by Shai Agassi on October 29, 2007. As of January 2011 it has already raised $700 million and about a third was spent in setting up the battery switch stations. Also several countries and states have offered tax breaks.[3][13][14]

In January 2008, Better Place announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Renault-Nissan to build the world's first Electric Recharge Grid Operator (ERGO) model for Israel. Under the agreement, Better Place will build the electric recharge grid, and Renault-Nissan will provide the electric vehicles. Renault will offer electric models of existing vehicles, like the Mégane sedan, but at competitive prices that they claimed would be similar to gasoline models.

[edit] Business model

[edit] History of the concept

See also: History of the electric vehicle

As the steam car, the internal combustion engine automobile, and the electric car emerged as the main competing technologies in the late 1890s until the 1920s, the concept of exchangeable battery service was first proposed as early as 1896 in order to overcome the limited operating range of electric cars and trucks.[15]

The concept was first put into practice by Hartford Electric Light Company through the GeVeCo battery service and initially available for electric trucks. The vehicle owner purchased the vehicle from General Vehicle Company (GVC, a subsidiary of the General Electric Company) without a battery and the electricity was purchase from Hartford Electric through an exchangeable battery. The owner paid a variable per-mile charge and a monthly service fee to cover maintenance and storage of the truck. Both vehicles and batteries were modified to facilitate a fast battery exchange. The service was provided between 1910 to 1924 and during that period covered more than 6 million miles. Beginning in 1917 a similar successful service was operated in Chicago for owners of Milburn Light Electric cars who also could buy the vehicle without the batteries.[15]

[edit] Better Place business model

Better Place anticipates implementing a business model wherein customers enter into contracts to purchase driving distance similar to the mobile telephone industry where customers contract for minutes of airtime. The initial cost of an electric vehicle may also be subsidized by the ongoing per-distance revenue contract just as mobile handset purchases are subsidized by per-minute mobile service contracts. Their goal is to enable electric cars to sell for $5,000 less than the price of the average gasoline car sold in the US;[16][17] otherwise, the impact of electric cars will be minimal. For example, the Prius hybrid has been sold for 13 years at a price of $4,000 more than other gasoline cars and has captured less than 2% of the world wide car market.[18]

Better Place will enable manufacturers to sell electric cars separately from their batteries[19] like the way that petrol cars are sold separately from their fuel. Petrol fuel is not usually purchased upfront, but instead is bought a few times a month when the gas tank needs filling; similarly, the Better Place monthly payment covers electric "fuel" costs including battery, daily charging and battery swaps. Better Place will allow customers to pay incrementally for battery costs including electric power, battery life, degradation, warranty issues, maintenance, capital cost, quality, technology advancement and anything else related to the battery. The per-distance fees cover battery pack leasing, charging and swap infrastructure, purchasing sustainable electricity, profits, and the cost of investor capital.[20] All battery concerns burden only Better Place who then bundles the costs and bills their customers monthly for providing all of the infrastructure.

Better Place electric car charging infrastructure network will be controlled by a smart software platform by Intel Atom processors and Microsoft .NET software. This platform will be unique and the first of its kind in the world that will enable Better Place to manage the charging of hundreds of thousands of electric cars simultaneously during peak hours of the day without overloading the electrical grid of the host country.[21] Better Place will be able to provide electricity for two million electric cars without adding a single electricity generator or transmission line by using software that will oversee and manage the recharging of electric cars that connect with Better Place.[22]

Better Place has requested that governments mandate the use of international standards and open access to recharge across charging networks to facilitate competing networks.[23] Standardization efforts such as SAE J1772, however, have not yet yielded global consensus as of August 2009. Better Place has displayed Charge Spot charging stations that use a connector with the same pin layout as SAE J1772-2009 but housed in a non-standard, triangular plug.[24] They have also displayed a wall mounted charging station using Mennekes/VDE-AR-E 2623-2-2 IEC 62196 receptacle .[25][26] Battery pack switching outside of Better Place's network will not be allowed. Better Place has pre-sold enough contracts to make their first deployed network in Israel profitable at launch.[27]

[edit] Energy sources

CEO Shai Agassi states that the company's plan is to have the network's electricity generated entirely by renewable energy from solar arrays and wind farms if necessary,[3][28] thus invalidating the applicability to the company of the "long-smokestack" argument against electric vehicles, which relies on the source of the electricity. However, achieving the 100% renewable energy goal may depend on the local electric grid's energy sources.

In Israel, where the first Better Place deployment takes place, the electric grid is based mostly on fossil fuels, rendering the renewable energy vision practically impossible in the short term.[29][30]

[edit] Cars and batteries

Prototype modified Renault Laguna EVs charging at the Better Place visitor centre in Ramat Hasharon, Israel, north of Tel Aviv.
Nissan eRogue in Hawaii.

The first prototype car is the Renault Laguna with a battery instead of a fuel tank and an electric motor instead of an internal combustion engine.[31] The battery for electric vehicles is a Lithium iron phosphate ion device.[32] The range of the car running on just one battery is from about 160 kilometres (100 mi)[33] to 190 kilometres (120 mi).[34] By replacing the battery at a battery switch station, the range between longer charging stops is limited only by the geographical distribution of the battery-swapping infrastructure.[31]

The second demo car is the Nissan eRogue, an electric car based on the Renault-Nissan Rogue, half way between a sedan and an SUV in size.[35]

The Renault Fluence Z.E. was announced at the Frankfurt Motor Show on September 15, 2009 as the first electric car to be available on the Better Place network using a switchable battery.[36] Shai Agassi said that EVs must be sold $5,000 cheaper than the price of the average gasoline car to be successful.[17] In April 2010 Renault announced that sales of the Fluence Z.E. are scheduled for 2011 in Israel, Denmark and the rest of Europe.[37] In August 2010 Better Place announced a non-binding order of 100,000 Renault Fluence ZE[38] and 4 months later Better Place claimed to have sold 70,000 cars from that order, a year away from the public launch of the Better Place network.[39][dubious – discuss]

The floor-mounted battery packs in these electric cars are designed to be changed out robotically in less than 2 minutes, less time than the average petroleum refuel, allowing for battery-swap services like those proposed by Better Place and Tesla Motors.[40] Better Place expects battery packs to cost between US 4¢ and 5¢ per mile over their life,[41] provide the cars with a 160 km (99 mi) range per charge, perform for 2000 recharge cycles, and last for 8 years.[42]


[edit] Battery-switching stations

With areas around cities covered with battery switching stations, also called battery-swap stations, drivers will have electric cars with an unlimited driving range for long distance trips.[43] The QuickDrop battery switch system will enable Renault Fluence Z.E.'s battery (the first vehicle to be deployed in the Better Place network) to be swapped in approximately three minutes at bespoke battery exchange stations.[44] While each exchange station will cost $500,000,[45] Better Place CEO Shai Agassi has said that cost would be half the price of a typical gas station.[46]

In order to access the battery switch station, Better Place customers have to swipe their membership card, which authenticates the car and subscription via the Operations Center, to activate the battery switch. The remaining process is fully automated, similar to going through a car wash, so the driver never has to leave the car. In just a few minutes, a robotic arm removes the depleted battery and replaces it with a full one and the driver is back on the road.[47]

Better Place began operating in Tokyo until the end of 2010 a demonstration battery switch station allowing taxi drivers to exchange their car's depleted battery pack for a 100 miles (160 km) fully recharged one in 59.1 seconds on average.[48] Better Place is using the same technology to swap batteries that F-16 jet fighter aircraft use to load their bombs.[49]

Better Place battery switch stations can swap multiple battery types of all kinds of electric cars as long as the battery can be removed from under the car.[50] A battery switch station using only 15 batteries has the ability to swap batteries for 2,500 EV's.[51] Better Place has battery station installation teams that can install one battery switch station in just 2 days,[52] one every 25 miles in every route[53] and at the same cost of 7 days of oil in the US, Better Place can cover all of the US with battery switch stations and all the required infrastructure.[54]

[edit] Robotic battery switching versus Tow-Hitch to Battery minitrailer

A small trailer containing charged batteries could be hooked up to the back of the electric vehicle using a tow hitch. As a result, battery switching stations would not require expensive robotic equipment to do this rapidly. As a downside, the car would tow a small trailer behind it. This would not be a problem for vehicles operating on highways or in the suburbs. It could make parking more difficult in crowded cities and might be esthetically unappealing to some users.

Towball on car

[edit] Battery switching versus DC fast charging

The main alternative technology to Better Place battery switching is DC fast charging. A nationwide fast charging infrastructure is currently being deployed in the US that by 2013 will cover the entire nation.[55] DC Fast Chargers are going to be installed at 45 BP and ARCO locations and will be made available to the public as early as March 2011.[56]

While Better Place battery switch stations cost around $500,000 each, DC fast chargers that the EV project will deploy cost only between $25,000 to $40,000.[57] The same DC fast chargers can recharge the battery of the Nissan Leaf to 80% in 30 minutes (around 50 miles) because the car's software controls the rate of charge and not the fast charger.[58] DC fast charging is therefore slower than Better Place's 59.1 seconds battery-switchover, and DC fast chargers cannot send power to two cars at the same time. Although two cars can be plugged in, the fast charger's 50 kW draw on the grid would be doubled to 100 kW if both cars were fast-charged at once; few locations can handle such a power spike.[59]

Fast charging may degrade the battery's performance, or even kill it, so it should only be used in emergency situations.[60] Moreover, fast charging puts high demands on the grid.[60] For a sizable roadside station, the power used to slow-charge a number of EV batteries that have been swapped-out of motor cars will be the same, on average, as if the same total through-put of motor cars using that garage had, instead of battery-swapping, parked up for half an hour whilst their batteries were fast-charged. The fast-charge solution may involve minor additional fluctuations in the power taken by that garage around that average power level, but such fluctuations are unlikely to be of a size to trouble the local distribution network operator. Concerns around grid impact have however been raised on one blog.[61]

Even if future fast charging and car battery technologies enable fast charging at much greater speeds than are possible today, and even if network constraints preventing substantial spread of fast charging stations are overcome, Better Place may remain attractive because their business model of selling the car without the battery lowers the upfront price of their cars relative to gasoline cars of similar size.[62]

[edit] Demonstration projects

[edit] Yokohama

On May 12, 2009, Better Place premiered their battery switching station to the public in Yokohama where BP had been invited by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment.[63] The battery switching station demonstrated was set up similarly to a gas station automatic car wash. The vehicle drove up on a ramp and was aligned on the swapping pad. The battery shuttle then engaged and rose up toward the bottom of the vehicle. It made contact with the battery, released it, lowered it, and moved the depleted battery pack away from the car. The charged battery pack was then inserted. The discharged battery was returned to the charging bay. The battery switch was complete in less than two minutes and the vehicle drove away.[64][65] The battery swap is designed to require less time than filling a tank of gas.[20][66] In order to keep electric vehicles in demand, Better Place has started initiatives to keep the vehicles competitive with the other cars on the market. By building infrastructure that makes owning an electric car more practical, they hope to increase demand. This is a central concern many automakers have expressed and addressing that concern will help spur the mass production of electric vehicles.[67]

The first prototype battery switch station demonstrated in Yokohama, Japan on May 14, 2009 was designed by Yoav Heichal, chief engineer for Better Place research and development group.[68]

The company has signed an agreement with Dor Alon Energy to install battery replacement points, which will run alongside the gas stations' normal business. A pilot will be launched within the next few weeks. Dor Alon CEO Israel Yaniv said, "Dor Alon is the first energy company that will enable owners of electric car owners of the future to obtain electric refueling services at its gas stations. We consider this agreement with Better Place to be a strategic partnership that will create real value and innovation for the company's activity."[69]

[edit] Tokyo

On April 2010, a 90-day switchable-battery electric taxi demonstration project was launched in Tokyo, using three Nissan Rogue crossover utility vehicles, converted into electric cars with switchable batteries provided by A123 Systems. The battery switch station deployed in Tokyo is more advanced than the Yokohama switch system demonstrated in 2009.[70][71][72] During the three-month field test the EV taxis accumulated over 25,000 miles (40,000 km) and swapped batteries 2,122 times, with an average battery swap time of 59.1 seconds. Nissan decided to continue the trial until late November 2010.[73]

[edit] San Francisco

In October 2010 Better Place announced its commitment to launch a three-year demonstration program with electric-powered taxis in the San Francisco Bay Area, in partnership with the cities of San Francisco and San Jose, California, taxi operators and car sharing programs, regional and state agencies, consumer and EV organizations, and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. The program will deploy and operate four battery switching stations in the San Francisco to San Jose corridor to support a fleet of switchable-battery EV taxis.[74]

As of December 2011, Better Place has made no further statements of progress on this program.[75]

[edit] Investors

As of 2010, the company had raised US$700 million from various sources including, VantagePoint Venture Partners, Israel Corporation (33% ownership),[76] Israel Cleantech Ventures, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Acorns to Oaks II, Esarbee Investments Canada, GC Investments LLC, Musea Ventures, Ofer Group, Vyikra Partners, Wolfensohn & Co. and Maniv Energy Capital.[77][78] In late 2007, Agassi began raising US$111 million in Series-A funding for this project,[79] one of the largest and fastest seed rounds in history.[citation needed] Investors include VantagePoint Venture Partners, Israel Corporation, Israel Cleantech Ventures, Morgan Stanley, and private investors led by Michael Granoff of Maniv Energy Capital.[80] In 2009, the company raised an additional US$135 million[citation needed] for Better Place Denmark, including an investment from DONG Energy the leading utility in Denmark. Following the announcement in Israel, Better Place had launched its network in Denmark, Australia and in two US locations - Hawaii and Northern California. The company has said it is in talks with more than 25 countries around the world.

Better Place announced agreements with AGL Energy and financial advisor Macquarie Capital Group to raise A$1 billion and begin deploying an electric vehicle (EV) network powered by renewable energy. According to Better Place, their model for sustainable mobility will help Australia move toward oil independence. With the world’s seventh highest per capita rate of car ownership, the country has nearly 15 million cars on the road after adding over a million new cars last year.[81]

In January 2010, as Israel Corporation completed its investment of US$100 million in the company,[82] a consortium of investors signed a Series-B funding round to invest a further US$350 million[83] in Better Place, citing their confidence that "Better Place has the technical and commercial solutions to allow for the mass adoption of electric cars in the near term." The Series-B round was led by HSBC, which invested US$125 million, and included all Series-A investors plus Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Lazard Asset Management. The deal represents one of the largest financial investments of its kind by HSBC, which will gain a seat on the Better Place board of directors and approximately 10% of the company's shares.[77]

Doubts have however been raised as to the effectiveness of a centralised model in providing charging infrastructure[84] with some anticipating that the model will not be widely adopted.

[edit] Partners

In May 2008, the company presented a prototype of its electric car at a press conference in Tel Aviv. Shai Agassi estimated that the company's partner, the Renault-Nissan alliance, would likely invest $500 million to $1 billion in developing the swappable-battery electric cars.[85]

Further partnerships with other manufacturers have not been announced with Peter Rawlinson, VP and Chief Engineer for Vehicle Engineering at Tesla quoted as saying “Different batteries suit different cars. It’s far too simplistic to look at batteries as isolation,”[86]

Better Place has also announced plans to develop electric recharge grids in the city of San Francisco[87] and the state of Hawaii.[88]

Better Place will work with Australian finance group Macquarie, which pledged to fund the construction of plug-in stations, and Australian utility AGL Energy, which has committed to powering those stations with renewable electricity.[89]

[edit] Response

In March 2008, Deutsche Bank analysts issued a glowing report stating that the company's approach could be a "paradigm shift" that causes "massive disruption" to the auto industry, and which has "the potential to eliminate the gasoline engine altogether."[90] Three months later, the same institution issued a second report, finding “electric vehicles destined for much more growth than is widely perceived”. The same report states that “[i]mprovements in battery technology will allow for increased power, increased electrical propulsion, and bigger gains in fuel economy.”[91]

On June 26, 2008, Shai Agassi testified before the United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, chaired by Representative Ed Markey of Massachusetts. The hearing, titled “$4 Gasoline and Fuel Economy: Auto Industry at a Crossroads,” dealt with the future role of the auto industry and the federal government in fighting gas prices and the fuel economy standards proposed in response to the enactment of the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007.[92]

In 2009 Media reports[93] suggested misgivings on Better Place's business model and costs citing up to $500,000 per station[94] in comparison to fast charge stations which are estimated to cost $25,000 - $40,000.[57]

[edit] Markets and pricing

[edit] Australia

In Australia a roll out of the network will begin in the major eastern coast cities before being rolled out nationally. It is estimated that 500 charge stations would give comparable coverage to the existing 13,000 petrol stations presently in operation. The total cost of this roll out would be between $1 to $1.25 Billion AUD. Currently Australia spends $20 to $30 Billion AUD on fuel.[95] The roll out of the Australian network is estimated to be 6 months to a year after the roll out of the network in Denmark. The switch to electric transport is estimated to increase the current grid load by 7%.[96] The initial network deployment will take place in Canberra in late 2011.[74]

As of December 2011, only 12 public "charge spots" (power outlets, not battery swap stations) had been installed in Australia.[97] No vehicles have been sold.

[edit] China

In 2011, Better Place announced an agreement with China Southern Power Grid Company, the world’s eighth-largest utility company. Before the end of the year, Better Place will open a battery switch station and joint education center in the southern city of Guangzhou.[60]

Shai Agassi said that China Southern Grid is embracing battery switch as the primary means of range extension.[98] China Southern Grid Chairman Zhao Jianguo said that the battery-switch model may become mainstream in China and that the joint visitor center and battery switch demonstration project with Better Place will help promote electric-car adoption in China by allowing potential customers to experience this innovative solution.

China Southern Power Grid pilot projects and other joint activities will explore the benefits that switchable-battery electric cars and the networked infrastructure that supports them can deliver to the electric grid in CSG's service area, which spans five provinces, one million square kilometers, and 230 million people in Southern China.[99]

Electric utility State Grid Corporation of China plans to build over 2,351 electric-charging and battery-swap stations by 2016. These will have 220,000 charging poles, but they did not indicate how many would be battery-swap stations; the director of the State Grid smart grid research center commented "The construction of a large-scale charging station costs 20 to 30 million yuan ($3.05-4.57 million) and a small-scale one costs less than 10 million yuan, but it costs more than 100 million yuan to build a battery-swap station."[100]

In April 2010, Better Place signed a memorandum of understanding with Chery Automobile, China's biggest independent car maker, to develop prototypes for electric vehicles to be used in regional state-sponsored pilot projects.[101]

[edit] Denmark

The Renault Fluence Z.E. is the first electric car that will be available on the Better Place network, with sales slated in Israel and Denmark for late 2011.

Better Place has partnered with Denmark's leading energy company; Dong Energy, in a €103 million Euro (770 million Danish Kroner) investment to introduce electric cars and infrastructure to Denmark. The country currently generates 20 percent of its electric power from wind energy, but much of it is exported because there is currently no way for utilities to store the excess power. With the Better Place model, Dong hopes to leverage the existing electric grid and electric vehicle batteries to harness and store the abundance of wind-generated power and distribute appropriately for transportation consumption.[102][103] The network commercial launch is scheduled for late 2011.[74][dubious – discuss]

The Renault Fluence Z.E. will be sold in Denmark at a price of 205,000 DKK (€27,496 or US$38,378) including VAT plus the monthly fee for the switchable-battery. Consumers will also pay a one-time fee of 9,995 DKK (€1,341) for a private charging station and there will be offered a choice of five fixed-price switchable-battery packages based on kilometers driven per year. For more than 40,000 km (25,000 mi) a year the monthly fee is 2,995 DKK (€399) per month. Sales are scheduled to begin by late 2011.[104][105][dubious – discuss]


The first battery switch station in Denmark, out of 20 planned to be deployed across the country until March 2012 as part of the network of charging infrastructure, was unveiled in June 2011 at Gladsaxe, near Copenhagen.[47]

[edit] Israel

Israel is the first nation in the world that partnered with Better Place to have an all-electric car infrastructure. Shai Agassi believes that in Israel by 2016, plus or minus a year, more than 50% of cars sold will be electric[106] and that by 2020, Israel will achieve oil independence.[107] The Baran Group signed an agreement with Better Place to build 51 battery switch stations over the course of 2011 to cover all of Israel.[108] The first battery switch station has already been opened as of March 2011.

According to the Financial Times around 400 corporations in Israel have signed letters of intent to begin switching their fleets to Better Place electric car network as soon as the service becomes available. This represents a potential of 80,000 electric cars.[109] Also out of the 100,000 Renault Fluence Z.E. that Better Place has bought from Renault, Agassi claims they have already sold around 70,000 vehicles and most of them were sold to commercial vehicle fleets.[110][dubious – discuss]

Better Place launched its first battery-swapping station in Israel, in Kiryat Ekron, near Rehovot in March 2011. The station is the first of approximately 40 stations to begin operating in the near term. The battery exchange process takes five minutes.[111] The company has also erected over 1,000 functional charging spots for the cars and thousands more will be put in place by the end of 2011, according to the CEO of Better Place Israel.[111]

Orders for the Renault Fluence ZE in Israel will begin in July 2011.[112] According to Better Place, their customers will save on the regular maintenance costs at about 40% less than regular family cars, insurance also will be less at around NIS 3,700 a year and its comprehensive solution of electric car and services will cut annual vehicle maintenance costs by 20%. The savings result from the cost of the service package, insurance, preventative maintenance, and the four-year manufacturer's warranty.[112]

On the 22nd of January 2012, Better Place launched its network in Israel by giving 100 Renault Fluence ZE to its employees and according to Better Place CEO Moshe Kaplinsky their plan is to give thousands of its cars to their first customers before the end of the year.[113][114][115]

[edit] Awards

Edmunds.com has selected battery-charging infrastructure developers Coulomb Technologies and Better Place as recipients of its first annual Green Car Breakthrough Award.[116] Shai Agassi no. 28 of the 100 Top Global Thinkers for driving to make electric cars a reality.[117]

[edit] Similar projects

Main article: Electric vehicle network

Many companies, in addition to Better Place, are installing charging station networks. In France, Électricité de France (EDF) and Toyota are installing recharging points for PHEVs on roads, streets and parking lots.[118] EDF is also partnering with Elektromotive, Ltd.[119] to install 250 new charging points over six months from October 2007 in London and elsewhere in the UK.[120] Coulomb Technologies has deployed their ChargePoint charging station network throughout the USA. In March, 2009, Tesla Motors announced a partnership to deploy battery swap stations to service their Model S platform cars.[121][122] The EV Charger Maps project managed by EV Charger News is a volunteer effort that manages a list of charging stations around the country with practical information targeted to electric vehicle owners. Recharging points also can be installed for specific uses, as in taxi stands.

[edit] See also

Portal icon Cars portal
Portal icon Renewable energy portal
Portal icon Sustainable development portal

[edit] References

  1. ^ Better Place: „leadership team: Shai Agassi“
  2. ^ "Governor Lingle and Better Place Announce Partnership to Offer National Blueprint for Clean Energy in Transportation". 2008-12-02. http://www.betterplace.com/the-company-pressroom-pressreleases-detail/index/id/governor-lingle-and-better-place-announce-partnership-to-offer-national-blu. 
  3. ^ a b c Clive Thompson (2009-04-16). "Batteries Not Included". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/magazine/19car-t.html?pagewanted=1&ref=magazinene. Retrieved 2009-04-19. 
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  5. ^ "French Electric Car To Debut In Danish Showrooms In a Few Months". COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference. 2008-05-28. http://www.cop15.dk/en/servicemenu/News/FrenchElectricCarToDebutInDanishShowroomsInAFewMonths.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-29. 
  6. ^ "San Francisco area aims to become electric car capital". 2008-11-25. http://web.israel21c.net/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles^l2354&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Technology. Retrieved 2009-01-30. 
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  8. ^ "Better Place Enters Electric Car Network Partnership with Ontario". Green Car Congress. 2009-01-15. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/01/better-place-en.html. Retrieved 2009-04-19. 
  9. ^ Aaron Turpen (2008-11-23). "Better Place to Build EV Infrastructure In California and Oregon". ZoomiLife. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/01/better-place-en.html#more. Retrieved 2009-04-19. 
  10. ^ "21st Century Initiative in California Defines Roadmap for Sustainable Transportation, Green Job Growth and Opportunity to Reinvigorate Region’s Competitive Advantage". Better Place. 2008-11-20. http://www.betterplace.com/press-room/press-releases-detail/21st-century-initiative-in-california-defines-roadmap-for-sustainable-trans/. Retrieved 2009-04-19. [dead link]
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  14. ^ "Ofer to invest $30 mln in electric car deal". Reuters. 2007-12-27. http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSL2716086020071227. Retrieved 2008-12-12. 
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  16. ^ "Are Electric Cars About to Deliver Electrifying Profits?". http://wallstcheatsheet.com/tag/better-place. 
  17. ^ a b "Shai Agassi interviewed on MSNBC's Morning Joe". http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/#40471407. 
  18. ^ "Better Place CEO: Biggest obstacle to electric cars is auto industry 'scepticism". http://www.euractiv.com/en/innovation/better-place-ceo-biggest-obstacle-electric-cars-auto-industry-interview-500451. 
  19. ^ Shai Agassi, David Pogue, Gavin Newsom (2009-03-19). Making The World A 'Better Place' (YouTube). San Francisco, CA: CBS News Sunday Morning; CBS Interactive, Inc. Event occurs at. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXfqGL3C2uI. "Shai Agassi: "We [Better Place] don't let you [the customer] buy a battery; we [Better Place] buy the battery." 
  20. ^ a b Shai Agassi (2009-02). Shai Agassi's bold plan for electric cars. Long Beach and Palm Springs, California: TED. Event occurs at. http://www.ted.com/talks/shai_agassi_on_electric_cars.html. Retrieved 2009-10-05. "See we're bound by today's technology on batteries, which is about 120 miles if you want to stay within reasonable space and weight limitations. 120 miles is a good enough range for a lot of people. But you never want to get stuck. So what we added as a second element to our network is a battery swap system. You drive. You take your depleted battery out. A full battery comes on. And you drive on. You don't do it as a human being. You do it as a machine. It looks like a car wash. You come into your car wash. And a plate comes up, holds your battery, takes it out, puts it back in. Within two minutes you're back on the road. And you can go again. If you had charge spots everywhere, and you had battery swap stations everywhere, how often would you do it? And it ends up that you'd do swapping less times than you stop at a gas station. As a matter of fact, we add it to the contract. We said that if you stop to swap your battery more than 50 times a year we start paying you money because it's an inconvenience." 
  21. ^ "Shai Agassi announces 100,000 electric cars mega deal/order". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIE06mdcXkc. 
  22. ^ "Israel gears up to go electric". http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hywFVhqyu6QVnz6NcTQxhgsu8YIg?docId=CNG.f6fcd5bb2a7f891c8156a12d7845d240.c11. 
  23. ^ Shai Agassi, Amanda Drury, Martin Soong (2009-04-23). A Better Place for the Auto Industry (Flash video). CNBC Squawk Box. Event occurs at. http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1102194519&play=1. Retrieved 2009-10-10. "
    2m40s: CNBC's Amanda Drury: "Are you going to have a monopoly on this infrastructure? How are you going to make sure there is enough competition in the system to be able to maintain, you know, good pricing, stable pricing for the consumer?"
    2m58s: Shai Agassi: ... in every country we come in, we've asked [the government] to force everybody, including ourselves [Better Place], to use international standards. And we've guaranteed, and asked for the same thing, that there will be open access for people to charge on our network even if they're not our subscribers. Sort of free roaming across networks so that there is an incentive for a second and third and fourth maker of ... sort of At&T and Vodafone and Orange ... to actually go ahead and build networks that are compatible and based on standards."     
  24. ^ Better Place (2009-07-16). "Demo charge plug". http://www.flickr.com/photos/btrplc/3727794110/. Retrieved 2009-10-12. 
  25. ^ Better Place (2009-09-23). "Better Place charge spot gallery". http://www.flickr.com/photos/btrplc/3947614289/. Retrieved 2009-10-12. 
  26. ^ Xavier Navarro (2009-05-20). "The European standard charging plug for cars is selected after Mennekes design". Autoblog Green. http://green.autoblog.com/2009/05/20/the-european-standard-charging-plug-for-cars-is-selected-after-m/. Retrieved 2009-10-12. 
  27. ^ Martin LaMonica (2009-04-24). "Q&A: Better Place's electric car plans, brilliant or nuts?". CNet Australia. http://www.cnet.com.au/q-a-better-place-s-electric-car-plans-brilliant-or-nuts-339296126.htm. Retrieved 2009-10-15. 
  28. ^ "Shai Agassi's bold plan for electric cars". TED Talks. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/shai_agassi_on_electric_cars.html. Retrieved 20011-02-22. 
  29. ^ Dan Rabinowitz (2009-11-18). "The Electric Car (both Hebrew and English posts)". http://homocombustans.com/2009/11/15/%d7%94%d7%9e%d7%9b%d7%95%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%aa-%d7%94%d7%97%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%aa-%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%a8%d7%90%d7%9c-%d7%95%d7%94%d7%aa%d7%97%d7%9e%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%92%d7%9c%d7%95%d7%91%d7%9c/. 
  30. ^ McKinsey (2009-11-19). "McKinsey's report for reducing greenhouse gas emission in Israel (Hebrew). Page 37 mentions 99% fossil fuel usage in Israel.". http://www.energia.org.il/sites/default/files/post_files/20091119_israel_ghg_cost_curve.pdf. 
  31. ^ a b Daniel Roth (08.18.08). "Driven: Shai Agassi's Audacious Plan to Put Electric Cars on the Road". Wired Magazine. http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/magazine/16-09/ff_agassi?currentPage=all. 
  32. ^ Shai Agassi and the big batteries
  33. ^ PC World interview
  34. ^ TIME Heroes of 2008
  35. ^ "Better Place eRogue starts trials". CNET. 2008-11-21. http://crave.cnet.co.uk/cartech/0,250000513,49300047,00.htm. 
  36. ^ "The Renault Fluence ZE Concept - the 1st electric vehicle available on the Better Place network". 2010-10-20. http://www.betterplace.com/the-company-multimedia-videos-detail/index/guid/the-renault-fluence-ze-concept-the-1st-electric-vehicle-available-on-the-be. Retrieved 2011-02-27. "SUNDAY, 27 FEB 2011 This video provides a preview of Renault’s Fluence ZE Concept car, the first electric car with a switchable battery available on the Better Place electric vehicle network. The Fluence ZE Concept EV was unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show." 
  37. ^ "Renault Unveils Finalized Designs of Fluence Z.E. and Kangoo Express Z.E.; Opens Pre-Reservations". Green Car Congress. 2010-04-15. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2010/04/renault-20100415.html#more. Retrieved 2010-04-18. 
  38. ^ "Better Place Moves Ahead with 100,000 Electric Cars". 2010-08-18. http://www.cleanfleetreport.com/electric-vehicles/charging-electric-vehicles/better-place-electric-cars-battery-swap/. Retrieved 2011-02-27. "SUNDAY, 27 FEB 2011 Better Place CEO states that he has placed an order for 100,000 electric cars from Renault" 
  39. ^ "Better Place CEO: Biggest obstacle to electric cars is auto industry 'scepticism'". 2010-12-10. http://www.euractiv.com/en/innovation/better-place-ceo-biggest-obstacle-electric-cars-auto-industry-scepticism-interview-500451. Retrieved 2011-02-27. "SUNDAY, 27 FEB 2011 Shai: ..we're a year away from the public launch of the network, but we've already sold almost 70,000 cars, which is about 1/3 of one year's worth of (new car) sales in Israel." 
  40. ^ "EERE News: Tesla Motors Unveils the Model S, an All-Electric Sedan". Apps1.eere.energy.gov. 2009-04-01. http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/news_detail.cfm/news_id=12374. Retrieved 2009-10-17. 
  41. ^ Shai Agassi, Better Place, CEO, Founder; Chris Anderson, Wired Magazine, Editor-in-Chief (2008-12-28) (Adobe Flash Video). Agassi's Electric Car Grid (Videotape). Event occurs at. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNIijgJcsbs. "
    Agassi, 11m08s: The battery costs are, gets you to, about 4 to 5 cents a mile when you take the entire life of the battery and electrons [electricity] cost you between 1 to 2 cents per mile.
    Anderson, 11m29s: Does this include the subsidy for the car?
    Agassi, 11m31s: Including nothing, base; no-taxes, no-subsidies, no-give aways. 4 to 5 cents a mile for the battery, 1 or 2 cents a mile for the electricity depending on whether you use coal or, you do what we [Better Place] do, you use wind and solar at 2 cents. So we're roughly at about 6, 7 cents a mile."     
  42. ^ "Better Place". 2009. http://www.betterplace.com/solution/batteries/. Retrieved 2009-10-19. "...a lithium-ion battery in a typical sedan can deliver a range of about 100 miles / 160 kilometers on a single charge. ... These batteries are expected to perform over 8 years and 2,000 recharges, a major improvement over earlier generations of vehicle batteries." [dead link]
  43. ^ "Better Place, California Battery Switch Station Deployment". http://www.betterplace.com/uploads/ckfinder/images/CaliforniaDeployment290x301.png. 
  44. ^ http://www.renault.com/en/vehicules/renault/pages/fluence-ze.aspx
  45. ^ Kate Galbraith (2009-05-13). "Better Place Unveils Battery Swap Station". New York Times. http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/better-place-unveils-battery-swap-station/. Retrieved 2009-10-05. 
  46. ^ Cornell, Clayton B. (2009-05-13). "Better Place Unveils First Solar-Powered Electric Vehicle Battery Switching Station : Gas 2.0". Gas2.org. http://gas2.org/2009/05/13/better-place-unveils-first-solar-powered-electric-vehicle-battery-switching-station/comment-page-2/. Retrieved 2009-10-17. 
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  50. ^ "Myth buster: can our switch stations accommodate different battery types?". http://blog.betterplace.com/2010/12/myth-buster-can-our-switch-stations-accommodate-different-battery-types/. 
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    Total Offering Amount $200,000,000 USD
    Total Amount Sold $110,750,000 USD
    Total Remaining to be Sold $89,250,000 USD"     
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  101. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Dong_Energy_Press_Release; see Help:Cite errors/Cite error references no text
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