Though Green Prophet is skeptical about Shai Agassi‘s Project Better Place, we are watching the developments of the project with interest. This week, the prototype of the electric car recharging station was unveiled in Israel. The prototype was designed in San Francisco and developed in Israel with the cooperation of Nekuda DM.
The station features two sockets for the simultaneous charging of two electric cars. The plan is for 400 of these stations to be installed in various locations in Israel as part of a six month pilot program, followed by similar installations in Hawaii, Denmark, Australia and California. The projected date of deployment is 2010, so don’t get rid of your car just yet. (Unless of course you can.)
Tal Agassi, director of infrastructure products and international deployment development for Better Place, said, “In designing and deploying the charge spot, our top priority is the driver’s experience. We set out to design a user friendly and simple charging experience for the user that will encourage drivers to switch from the pump to the plug.”
:: ISRAEL21c
GM BACK MANY YEARS AGO HAD ALL ELECTRIC SOLAR POWERED CAR WHICH
TWICE WENT COAST TO COAST IN AUSTRALIA ON JUST ON BORD SOLAR CELLS QUITE WELL BUT GM DID NOT GO THOUGH WITH THE ELECTRIC CAR HI PRODUCTION BECAUSE OFF POOR CEO ADMISSIONS TO MAKING THE WRONG CHOICES.NOW OF COURSE GM WENT BROKE AND WANTS MORE TAXPAYER MONEY TO BAIL THEM OUT TO MAKE CARS THAT ARE OUTDATED.
THERE ARE MANY CARS ON THE MARKET THAT CAN BEAT THE GM VOLT IN MILEAGE AND COST. (APTERA 1E IS ONE OF THEM)
It seems that people are rushing into this scheme without thinking of the actual user of EV’s.
99% of return trips will be under 100km and the need to recharge anywhere else apart from home or work will be unnecessary. Battery swaps will rely on all the EV manufacturers complying to Better Place’s batteries and systems which will be a minefield. No one will want to drive the same car as their neighbor and doesn’t take into account people’s desires to be different and have a choice of what they drive.
Then there is the cost factor. Currently an EV is at least 1/5th the cost to run as a petrol car. Better place will make it over half the cost so hardly a great saving for all the effort and expense.
There is an alternative though and it involves wireless electricity. Currently there are companies working on ways to utlise this with charging able to be done whilst traveling on the road.
Surely we should not waste precious investment money charging down the wrong road!
The fact that Better Place is seeing takers all over the world: Israel, Denmark, Australia, Japan, Portugal, and a couple of states in the US as well, proves the fact that EVs are a concept whose time has come! We shall be seeing more and more EVs in the times to come.