One minute, 13 seconds. That's how long it took for the whiz-bang battery switcher engineered by Better Place to remove a battery from the undercarriage of its Nissan demonstration SUV and replace it with another. That's faster than either the fastest fast charge or filling it up with regular. You don't even get out of your car! Sweet!

The demonstration was part of the official opening of a Better Place exhibit in Yokohama, Japan, as part of a 6-month feasibility study being conducted by the Ministry of the Environment. The Land of the Rising Sun would like a full 50-percent of the cars sold there to be electric-powered by 2020. Besides the battery swapper, the exhibit also has four Better Place charging stations installed and an array of solar panels from Sharp to provide electricity.

While the machinery that conducts the battery switcheroo looks impressively simple and concise and may convince many about the viability of the plan, we suspect it won't enough to silence all the critics of the Better Place model. You can find the official press release along with a video after the jump. Check it all out and let us know if you're persuaded in the comments.



[Source: Better Place]

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 under a bit of fire from different quarters. On one side of the globe, we have Mercedes' director of group research and car development, Thomas Weber, telling The Marker that not only is the swapping plan dangerous and could result in electrocution or fire, but that, "The industry has not even resolved matters as basic as the optimum location for an electric car's battery or the battery type." Ouch.

Meanwhile here in the States, the president of ECOtality, Johnathan Read, reeled off his own list of perceived problems with rival Better Place's battery swapping station concept. In an interview with the Cleantech Group during the launch of its EV Micro-Climate Working Group in Arizona he said, "It takes 10 or 15 minutes to fast charge, which isn't going to be much quicker or slower than swapping a battery, and certainly a lot less moving parts and potential points of failure. Let alone the capital costs required to build a battery swap infrastructure." He went on to make points about the speed of energy storage evolution and the difficulties of standardization. Of course, we're sure Better Place has already considered many of these points and is most likely in disagreement with the views of its critics. We would like to hear how they would respond but while we wait, feel free to leave your responses in the comments.

[Source: Haaretz / BusinessGreen.com]

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 the cars. A123 recently received an undisclosed amount of investment from Ofer Holdings Group which controls Better Place backer, Israel Corp. Idan Ofer, who is chairman of both Israel Corp. and Better Place made the announcement in Australia during a press conference for the launch of Better Place operations there. Got all that? Good, because it doesn't get much less complicated.

Better Place is reportedly about to import 10 family-type cars from the U.S. to be used as sales demonstration vehicles and conduct various sorts of testing and training with. Although Ofer Holdings has a joint venture with China's Chery Automobiles Co. that will supply cars for the Israeli market, there is a possibility these particular cars might come from Chrysler or Chevrolet. At least according to "industry sources" cited in a Globes article. There is also a possibility that cars could come to the U.S. from Renault in Europe and have electric drivetrains installed before being sent off to Israel. Renault is a partner with Better Place as well. It seems that the only thing known for sure is what Better Place is quoted as saying. "The cars slated for tests in Israel are being assembled in the US and will arrive in Israel soon." We'll let you know what they're assembling as soon as we find out ourselves.

[Source: Globes / BusinessWeek]

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 account quickly and watch here (No, I don't get how a Seesmic video conversation works, either).

4:10 pm EST: I've added the video embed code after the jump, but it doesn't look like anything's started yet. Pacific time means California time, not Australia time, right?

4:21 pm: Ok, things are starting. Second video embedded after the jump.

5 pm: An hour in, and only three parts to the conversation thus far (and all from Better Place or Seesmic reps). We'll check in later to see if anyone's furthered the discussion.

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 conference call tomorrow. The information thus far is that Better Place will deploy an electric vehicle network, powered by renewable energy, that apparently has the potential to power all of Australia's 15 million cars. As an email from Better Place put it: "As the world's sixth largest country, Australia was selected to show that the Better Place model works in any country, regardless of size. If Australia can do it, so can others". Read more here and stay tuned tomorrow for more.

[Source: Better Place]

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 a media outlet he doesn't like - said that France's move accelerates "the inevitable electrification of the automobile" (see also: Johnson Controls).

In France, Project Better Place will work with Renault, EDF (yes, that EDF) to develop a "pan-European electric vehicle network," Agassi said in a statement (it's pasted after the jump). I tell ya, if anyone's going to get a standardized EV charging network in place, it looks like it'll be Agassi. We may have to wait until 2010 to see the first cars, but this guy is playing long term.

UPDATE: PBP has dropped the "project" from their name.

[Source: Project Better Place]

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 proposition. Even with Agassi's approach that would sell the EV without a battery and add on a subscription model for the battery, the up-front cost will remain higher than conventional cars. Nonetheless, in Paris last week Agassi was telling the Wall Street Journal that he doesn't think the Chevy Volt would ever be more than a niche product. He bases that on price of the car, expected to be around $40,000 before any tax incentives.

Agassi thinks that is too high for what would otherwise be a $20,000 vehicle, like the Chevy Cruze on which it's based. As far as he goes, he's right, but he doesn't go far enough. GM and everyone else know that any car that will be mainstream has to have an affordable up-front cost. That's why GM originally wanted a $30,000 price point for the Volt. That's why they went with a smaller battery and range extender. The realities of the battery situation will continue to make longer range electric driving unaffordable for the foreseeable future from a purchase standpoint regardless of whether you take the GM or Better Place approach.

While Agassi's subscription-based software background may make sense for large deep pocketed corporations, for regular people the cost of entry is a much bigger hurdle than the total cost of ownership. If you can't pay the door charge, it doesn't matter if the drinks are free once you get inside. That's why so many people relied on cheap lease deals and nothing down mortgages over the last decade. The current reality of what is happening in the financial markets means that there is a high probability that none of these approaches will prove to be viable anytime soon. Unless a manufacturer can find a way to get that entry cost down and soon, all EVs will likely remain niche products for many more years.


[Source: Wall Street Journal]

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 also states 2011 as the new launch date which is basically when Renault has originally said it would happen. Perhaps it is just a matter of it happening at year's end rather than the beginning. No reason for the delay was mentioned but, if real, it could have something to do with newly-announced cost-cutting measures that will see the departure of 6,000 Renault employees. Of course, it might just be that the company already has its hands full preparing the six different liquid-fueled Megane III models it says will be available. Based on a slightly lengthened 2010 Megane III (pictured above), the electric version of the car was to be sold in other countries as well. Hopefully the French automaker won't wait too long to deliver on its earlier promise. Israel is a relatively small market and there are other electric car competitors getting ready to grab up precious market share.

[Source: Globes}

If competition spurs companies to improve the quality of their offerings and the speed with which they innovate, then we may soon expect more from Shai Agassi's Better Place and its partner in Israel, Renault. While BYD already announced they would be selling electric vehicles in Israel earlier this month, that pronunciation gains serious weight with the news that IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. is said to be close to officially announcing a deal with the Chinese automaker to bring both its all-electric E6 and its 60 mile plug-in serial hybrid (PHEV) F6DM to the Jewish state.

IDB, which is run by its largest shareholder, Nochi Dankner, has interests in most areas of the Israeli economy save for automobile importing. The shouldn't prove overly problematic as the Lubinsky and Livnat families, who together hold 50 percent of the company, are currently importers of Peugeot and Citroen and have experience in the truck industry. They also operate a network of service stations and "logistic centers." It should be interesting to see whether they employ a cooperative or confrontational approach to competing with the Better Place and their partner, Renault. You bring the popcorn and we'll bring the details of any upcoming battles royale.

[Source: Globes Online]

Having the family car converted to run on electricity has become a very popular concept in Palestine. Since we told you about the Peugeot prototype, the two men behind the project, Waseem Khazendar and Fayaz Anan, have heard from over 400 folks willing to throw down the $2,500 they say it would cost to do the work. Only there's one small problem: because of the Israeli blockade currently in place, they only have enough materials to convert 30 or 40 vehicles. The blockade also keeps them from charging significantly less as well, according to the Christian Science Monitor, Annan says he could do the work for a measly $1,700 if the cease-fire that is now in effect holds and more normal trade resumes. Asked about that price tag by the Monitor, Ron Gremban, lead engineer from CalCars.org said, "With the cheapest components I can imagine, it would cost around three times as much over here."

Interestingly, they also talked with Ziva Patir of Project Better Place about the possibility of the Palestinians working with that company. She told them that although she couldn't speak for PBP on the issue, "I believe that business creates peace, and any peace project is good for everybody." Indeed it is.

[Source: Christian Science Monitor]