Better Place’s financial batteries get “supersharged” with a massive $350 million investment.
If you’ve been following clean tech news, you’ll know that Shai Agassi’s Better Place electric car development company has received a substantial “charge” for its financial batteries by receiving funding of $350 million. The investment comes by way of a consortium of investors that includes the international group HSBC Israel Corp.
According to Globes, Better Place will receive one of the largest ever clean technology funding deals in Israel, which will give the company a value of more than $1.25 billion.
Better Place has already shown that it can convince some worldwide automobile concerns to pay attention to its concepts – Denmark, the US, Canada, Japan and Australia, for example. The technology includes developing a network of batter exchange stations to give its cars built by Renault-Nissan a much better driving range than other concepts such as GM’s Chevrolet Volt.
Better Place has made agreements with France’s Renault-Nissan company, where the technology innovated by the Israeli based company will be featured in their new electric ZE or zero emission cars that can either be recharged at home, at special recharging terminals in train stations or other public places; or at battery exchange stations, which were recently tested in Japan.
Agassi (pictured left) used a family size Renault Fluence to show that one does not have to drive a small mini-car or glorified golf cart in order to enjoy the technology of having a fully electric car.
Both the Better Place electric car design and its unique battery replacement center concept has been demonstrated in Japan, which is acknowledged as a world leader in automobile technology.
Better Place has also demonstrated its concepts at both the COP 15 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, as well as at the recent Frankfurt Auto Show. Next week it will be opening its Better Place center outside of Tel Aviv, giving business people and the public a closer access to the developing technology. Green Prophet hopes to be there.
The recent financial deal headed by HBSC will give the banking consortium a 10% ownership of Better Place venture shares, and the HBSC Head of Global Capital Financing, Kevin Adeson, will sit on Better Place’s Board of Directors. Adeson is very enthusiastic of Better Place’s future in the world electric car market:
“We are confident that Better Place has the technical and commercial solutions to allow for the mass adoption of electric cars in the near term. The Better Place switchable battery solution, which addresses the range limitation of fixed battery electric cars, will offer the consumer an affordable and attractive alternative to current combustion engine and hybrid vehicles.
We expect the Better Place model to be widely adopted across many countries and cities, particularly in those markets with policies strongly favoring electric vehicle adoption.”
More articles on Better Place and electric cars:
Better Place Battery Exchange Stations Tested in Japan
Better Place Electric Cars Tested by the Press at Copenhagen Climate Conference
Better Place Electric Cars vs GM Chevrolet Volt
[…] Place has secured millions in funding from private investors around the globe and has been spending heavily in the last few years as it attempts to build […]
[…] automobile let options. But over simply enlivening other automobile let companies to follow suit, a Better Place-Eldan partnership will also propel EV infrastructure developments forward. As partial of a […]
[…] beyond simply encouraging other car rental companies to follow suit, the Better Place-Eldan partnership will also propel EV infrastructure […]
[…] rental options. But beyond simply encouraging other car rental companies to follow suit, the Better Place-Eldan partnership will also propel EV infrastructure developments forward. As part of the […]
[…] stories: Better Place Says UK Not Giving Electric Cars a (Tax) Break Better Place Electric Car Gets Investment Fuel of $350 Million Led by HBSC Maurice Test Drives The Better Place Electric Car: “Like a […]
[…] Better Place Electric Car Gets Investment “Fuel” of $350 Million […]
[…] The World Economic Forum provides a platform for young, dynamic leaders, such as Agassi, to promote their ideas and concepts. China is an ideal location due to being the fastest growing economy in the world. In the case of Better Place, the fact the Mr. Agassi cut a deal with one of China’s largest automobile manufacturing companies, Chery Automobile Manufacturing Co. Ltd, gave Mr. Agassi an even greater reason to rub elbows with other upcoming corporate gurus. In an economic climate where many companies have suffered due to lack of working capital, Agassi’s Better Place has so far been able to raise substantial amounts of cash despite the fact that his electric cars and battery exchange stations have not yet gone beyond the testing stage. […]
I think this is a very smart idea. However, I think since there are already gas stations out there, we should be somehow adding on to all of them and creating these battery stations. This way, people can get gas, and charge at the same time. Just a thought.. That way, it will take up less space.
[…] and smaller boutique firms have emerged to manage the flood of new technologies ranging from electric vehicles to biomass, smart grid players, green building technologies and too many others to list […]
[…] #2 on the way from Tel Aviv to Herzylia. The news we were interested in hearing about was not about Better Place’s $350 investment earlier in January, but about the roll out of the Better Place electric education facility that invites the public to […]
Better Place's financial batteries get supersharged with a massive $350 million investment. If you've been fol… http://bit.ly/bXZL7C #car
On Better Place investment and electric car demo center in Tel Aviv: http://www.greenprophet.com/2010/02/02/16846/better-place-investment/
News:: Better Place Electric Car Gets Investment Fuel of $350 Million Led by HBSC http://bit.ly/c3Vi3n