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}

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 here, and an island-state there. No longer.

Speaking to the House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming (we have one of those?), Agassi said, "For the price of two months worth of oil, some $100 billion, we can put in place the infrastructure needed to power the nation's cars and end this oil dependence," Ambitious, no? He then threw in the "American jobs" angle with, "Of that $100 billion, moreover, some $80 billion will go into jobs that, by their nature, can only be performed in the US - the construction of the infrastructure itself."

In the mood for throwing out big numbers and lofty goals, the man-on-a-mission even pitched renewable sources to power the nations automotive fleet saying, "For the price of one year's worth of oil, some $500 billion, we can go even farther - creating fully renewable electrical generation sufficient to power all of the nation's vehicles. In so doing, we will again create jobs that can only be performed in this country, and we will give a much broader stimulus to the renewables energy market." No word on what kind of impression was made on the politicians but we hope it got some hamster wheels turning. Check out the video after the break to gain your own impression of Agassi's vision.

[Source: Globes]

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 first major auto supplier for the scheme but Renault's repeated announcements of its intention to bring electric cars to America in couple of years from now. Now all of this seems to be coming together and it appears, much to our jaw-dropping surprise, that a city in California may very well lead the way into this brand new age of electric-car driving.

According to the San Francisco Sentinel, the mayor of that fair city, Gavin Newsom (above on right), is in talks with PBP about setting up shop in his town of steep rolling hills. In Israel last week to encourage exchanges between business peoples of that country with those in the San Francisco area, the mayor met with several different executives from Agassi's company. Over lunch with CEO Moshe Kaplinsky, Newsom offered to work with the company if they would consider using his city as a testing ground. Watch the video from a Israeli news interview after the break to hear the mayor discuss the goings-on in his own words.

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 Conference Center in Tel Aviv Israel. Agassi will apparently provide an update on the status of the project to develop both electric cars and a charging infrastructure. Israel is just one of a number of countries to express interest in the program. According to Israeli President Shimon Peres, the hope is to have electric vehicles on the road in Israel by 2010. If any readers happen to be in Tel Aviv on Sunday and catch this send us a report.

[Source: Jerusalem Post, thanks to Vince for the tip]

We told you early this morning about the new electric car company Project Better Place. The founder and CEO, Shai Agassi made an appearance on CNBC 11:35 AM EST and the full video of his interview is available online. The video includes a computer graphic simulation of one of the Project Better Place electric cars and the battery swapping station. It appears there are two kinds of stations; one, a modified parking spot, which I guess would be in a city parking lot and the other a covered, cargo container like building, which seemed to be out in the country.

Shai said the process of exchanging batteries would take just 2-3 minutes. When asked if he had enough to build the infrastructure, which he compares to mobile networks, he said many of his investors are bankers. Shai also mentions in the interview that he raised $200M in just 3 months and that two key things that made Project Better Place possible was 1.) the price of oil went up a lot and 2.) there are "new generation of batteries that can outlive the car." Also, Shai says he initially pitched this as a government project but Israeli President Shimon Peres suggested he explore the idea in the private market and Shai took his advice. It wasn't the last time, as Shimon now advises the company.

We will have more on Project Better Place soon.

[Source: CNBC]