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Shai Agassi: Hope for the electric car rests on China's shoulders
Coda electric sedan - Click above for high-res image gallery "Our goal is not to build a car company," says Better Place CEO Shai Agassi, "Our goal is to end oil." That would be quite an accomplishment, and it's going to take cooperation between the automakers themselves, companies like Better Place that are building and developing an electric vehicle infrastructure and the localities installing them. Oh, and people who drive the cars. According to Agassi, once China gets on the EV train, there's no stopping it. "Once China does it, you ... Read more →
Better Place finishes first 1,000 battery swaps without problems Sebastian Blanco
Better Place battery swap station - click above for high res gallery While the full jury is still out on Better Place's battery swap idea, the first "juror" seems to have made up her mind. The ...
Thinking through the Better Place strategy: is it seriously flawed? Sebastian Blanco
Project Better Place battery swap - Click above for a hi-res image gallery Last week, Better Place previewed for a wide audience, via a new video, their battery swapping system. The video has ...
VIDEO: Better Place battery swapper demonstrated Domenick Yoney
Project Better Place battery swap - Click above for a hi-res image gallery One minute, 13 seconds. That's how long it took for the whiz-bang battery switcher engineered by Better Place to remove a ...
Shai Agassi talks about Better Place, $20,000 EV, batteries extra Sam Abuelsamid
Shai Agassi has big ideas when it comes to electric cars. He wants to build networks of public charging outlets and battery swap stations. He also wants to sell electric cars with a battery ...
More better-place news
Project Better Place using AC Propulsion drivetrain, Renault Megane mules 3 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Click above and scroll down to watch the video CBS has posted a short video feature on Better Place and, while the overall information won't be new to any of our regular readers, there are a few things for the hardcore to look for. First, in the opening seconds, you can see the dashboard screen ...
Better Place battery swapping plan comes under fire 4 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Although many share the vision of ubiquitous infrastructure to support future fleets of electric vehicles, the concept of battery swapping, frequently championed by Better Place, doesn't seem to have the same appeal as the fast-charge station. In fact, in the past week, battery swapping has come ...
Better Place announces 19 "Vision Partners" (aka early buyers) in Israel 4 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Click on the image above for a gallery of Better Place images "Vision Partner" sure has a nice ring to it. So positive, so optimistic, and so perfect a name for Better Place's new partners in Israel. Better Place announced this week that it has agreements with 19 companies who want to support ...
Carlos Ghosn: We're testing the EV this year 4 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Renault is betting big on electric cars, or at least that's the image they're out peddling everywhere. During a press conference this week in Paris, Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn announced that the French marque will begin testing pure electric cars this year. Specifically, he said that (translated from ...
Better Place CEO says he needs the Big Three 4 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Click above and scroll down to watch the video Need a quick update on Better Place? World Focus has a five-minute video that features interviews with founder Shai Agassi, video of the cars testing in Israel and skeptics like Forbes' Bruce Upbin, weighing in on the electric car startup. The clip ...
Better Place goes Canadian with Ontario electric car partnership 5 months ago on AutoblogGreen
The electric car deal-making juggernaut that is Better Place is staking its claim on a new territory. BP representatives are in Ontario this morning and, along with Ontario Premier McGuinty, announced a new partnership to advance the cause of EVs - what they're calling a Car 2.0 model - in the ...
Better Place answers questions about home charging, Obama's interest 6 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Over the weekend, we heard a story that the Obama Administration "may be adopting" the Better Place model of powering electric cars. We wanted to know more about what this means, exactly, and got the following from Better Place PR: Better Place has shared their model with a number of government ...
Obama green car update: working with Better Place? going pro-ethanol with Vilsak? 6 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Photo by BohPhoto. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0. Two items of note from the incoming President. First, the Jerusalem Post has a minor hint that Barack Obama's transition team has got their collective eye on the work of Better Place. The paper writes that the new administration ...
Better Place: more partnerships in Japan; electric car parking lot opens in Israel 7 months ago on AutoblogGreen
A few bits of news from the Better Place electric vehicle juggernaut today. One, Israel's first electric parking lot has opened at Cinema City in Pi-Glilot. Pictured above is Better Place Israel CEO Moshe Kaplinsky with one of the Renault vehicles plugged into the station. So, how does the Better ...
Why is Better Place's Shai Agassi not being more straightforward with WaPo? 7 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Shai Agassi wants to address the infrastructure side of the electric car problem. While electric cars can nominally be "fueled" by any electrical outlet, the fact is accessible outlets don't necessarily exist where most electric cars will be used in the near to mid-term. Batteries as they exist ...
Hawaii becomes a "Better Place" 7 months ago on AutoblogGreen
It's hard to image a more beautiful place than Hawaii. But Shai Agassi and Linda Lingle want to make it a "Better Place." The volcanic archipelago is one of the most remote populated places on the planet, sitting out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. That means that almost anything except the ...
Better Place Ireland? 7 months ago on AutoblogGreen
It's hard to keep up with all of the places that electric car promoters/builders Better Place (and their Renault and Nissan partners) are trying to do business, but we've got to keep trying. The latest potential target is Ireland, where the government announced a plan to develop an electric vehicle ...
Better Place to setup shop in San Francisco Bay area 7 months ago on AutoblogGreen
This week in San Francisco, Better Place founder Shai Agassi and the mayors of San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland announced the launch of an electric vehicle charging system in the Bay Area. An investment of $1 billion will be needed to install a network of public charging stations throughout the ...
Michigan governor meets with Shai Agassi and Better Place in Israel 7 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Click to enlarge Michigan's Governor, Jennifer Granholm, is currently on an overseas trip to try and boost Michigan's economy. It's a trip she's cut in half from its scheduled length because of the automaker bailout discussion here in America. Still, while she was in Israel, Granholm took a peek ...
Thinking about Better Place's free car strategy 8 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Better Place's Shai Agassi is all over the map, and I don't mean because his company is talking about unleashing electric cars in Australia, Israel, Denmark and other places. Back in October, he claimed that the Chevy Volt would be a "niche product." Whatever accuracy that statement has, it ...
Better Place to test A123 batteries in American car? 8 months ago on AutoblogGreen
A123 Systems may (repeat, may) have lost out on being the initial supplier of Chevy Volt batteries but that doesn't mean they are down and out. In fact, it appears that their lithium-iron-phosphate batteries will have energy storage duties for the electric cars of Better Place. Or at least some of ...
Better Place's Australia announcement goes live with Seesmic video conversation 8 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Starting right about now (1 pm Pacific time), the folks from Better Place will hop onto the Seesmis video conversation channel and talk about what's new with the Australia announcement. I'll be listening in and updating this post with any news, but if you want to join in yourself, set up and ...
Better Place moves to Australia 8 months ago on AutoblogGreen
We'll, that didn't take long. The announcement from Better Place about the next country planned for the electric vehicle expansion is here and we're off to Australia. Better Place announced the deal with AGL Energy and Macquarie Capital Group today, and there is more information coming in a ...
What country will be the next Better Place? We find out this week 8 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Last week, Better Place CEO Shai Agassi gave a speech in San Francisco trying to sell his EV ideas. The Bay Area is one place that Agassi's battery-swapping electric vehicle company wants to make, well, better. So far, Israel and Denmark have officially signed up for the program, but SF can join ...
Shai Agassi totally into what France is doing with EVs 9 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Shai Agassi likes what he's hearing from French president Nicolas Sarkozy. Sarkozy recently announced a plan to expand sustainable transportation infrastructure in France, including more money for electric vehicles. The founder of Project Better Place - and someone with an apparent inability to find ...
Better Place founder Agassi: Volt will be a "niche product" 9 months ago on AutoblogGreen
By now many of us around these parts know who Shai Agassi is and what he wants to do. He wants to build a distribution infrastructure of swappable batteries to be used in electric cars with the ultimate goal of making EVs mainstream. The problem is that electric cars remain an expensive ...
Better Place all-electric Renault delayed? 10 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Bad news for fans of the Better Place plan - maybe. According to a report on an Israeli business website, Renault executives at a conference in Geneva have said that the electric car bound for Israel, to be franchised by Shai Agassi's Better Place, will be delayed by a year. However, the website ...
Shai Agassi pitches $100 billion plan 1 year ago on AutoblogGreen
No one could ever accuse Shai Agassi, the man behind electric-car infrastructure company Project Better Place, of not being ambitious. He has been all over the planet making deals with major car makers and various countries. His American discussions have been somewhat more modest though with a city ...
Hawaii Governor reports talks with Better Place 1 year ago on AutoblogGreen
On a local radio show, Hawaii's Governor Linda Lingle said the state is in discussions with Project Better Place. The California-based startup, in partnership with Renault, has already announced its intention to bring electric cars to Israel and Denmark. A little over one week ago ABG reported on ...
VIDEO: San Francisco mayor in talks with Project Better Place 1 year ago on AutoblogGreen
We've told you all about Shai Agassi's (above left) ambitious Project Better Place and how PBP has plans to create a charging and battery-swapping infrastructure to support fleets of electric cars in Israel, Denmark and possibly Japan. We've also noted not only PBP's deals with Renault to be the ...
Shai Agassi to drive Project Better Place prototype on Sunday in Tel Aviv 1 year ago on AutoblogGreen
One of the launching points for Shai Agassi's Project Better Place is in Israel and it looks like the first tangible progress might be demonstrated this weekend. The CEO of PBP is planning to drive a prototype electric car that is being developed at around noon on Sunday at the Fairgrounds and ...
Project Better Place coming to Japan? 1 year ago on AutoblogGreen
The Globes reports Project Better Place's CEO Shai Agassi is in Japan looking for partners to bring Project Better Place to the Asian country. Shai has nothing official to say just yet but he does tell Globes that there is a great chance of success in Japan because it's a "transportation island." ...
First pictures and video of Project Better Place+Renault's electric car 1 year ago on AutoblogGreen
Recently, I wrote about a TV news report on Project Better Place's first electric car. Le Blog Auto found a video of the report online and you can watch it here. The 10-minute video includes a ride along in the Project Better Place+Renault electric car, a look under the hood and even a short race ...
Rumors become expectations: Renault CEO to arrive in Israel for electric car project presentation 1 year ago on AutoblogGreen
Globes, one of Israel's leading economic publications, has announced that Carlos Ghosn (Renault President and CEO) is expected to go to Israel for the dedication ceremony for Project Better Place on January 21st. This project by Shay Agassi is the famous Israeli EV venture we've been speaking about ...
Shai Agassi: Israel will have 100,000 electric cars in 2 years 1 year ago on AutoblogGreen
Update: The Globes article has been removed and Shai has posted an entry to his blog denying this rumor. Globes is reporting that Shai Agassi, Project Better Place CEO, said Israel will have 100,000 electric cars by 2010. Shai said this at an annual Ministry of Finance budget department meeting ...
Video of Project Better Place's battery exchange system 1 year ago on AutoblogGreen
The above video is a computer simulation of the Project Better Place battery exchange stations and parking lots. It's the same video shown in the background as Shai Agassi, the company's founder and CEO, explained the idea of the company on CNBC yesterday. Project Better Place wants to build a ...
