After pumping more than $400 million across various areas of electrical vehicle infrastructure, Israeli-American entrepreneur Shai Agassi is testing his luck on the world’s first nationwide electric car network roll out. Now, all depends on Israeli’s citizen acceptance.
Here the users can swap their depleted batteries for fully charged ones at station, within just 5 minutes, adding extra 100 miles to their car. Majority of the short distance commuters can recharge the car batteries at their respective places, which will fully recharge in 6 to 8 hours. Better Place venture owns the batteries, bringing down the purchase price of the cars using the network.
So far, the four Better Place battery stations are set up in central and northern Israel. During the second half of the year, around 40 stations are due to be operating across the country. But even before that, the company says enough will be up that a motorist could make the 500-kilometer (300-mile) drive from Israel's northern tip to its southern end.
Agassi has raised $750 million from investors including General Electric Co. and HSBC Holdings PLC since founding Better Place 4 1/2 years ago. The largest investor is The Israel Corp., whose holdings include Israel's biggest oil refinery and deep water oil drilling.
French automaker Renault has begun selling a sedan, the Fluence, customized to use the stations, priced in Israel at roughly $32,000, comparable to other sedans sold here. Currently, about 140 are on the road, most driven by Better Place employees.
By 2017, Shai Agassi expects 50 percent of all new car sales in Israel to be electric.
Source: Business Week.
Here the users can swap their depleted batteries for fully charged ones at station, within just 5 minutes, adding extra 100 miles to their car. Majority of the short distance commuters can recharge the car batteries at their respective places, which will fully recharge in 6 to 8 hours. Better Place venture owns the batteries, bringing down the purchase price of the cars using the network.
So far, the four Better Place battery stations are set up in central and northern Israel. During the second half of the year, around 40 stations are due to be operating across the country. But even before that, the company says enough will be up that a motorist could make the 500-kilometer (300-mile) drive from Israel's northern tip to its southern end.
Agassi has raised $750 million from investors including General Electric Co. and HSBC Holdings PLC since founding Better Place 4 1/2 years ago. The largest investor is The Israel Corp., whose holdings include Israel's biggest oil refinery and deep water oil drilling.
French automaker Renault has begun selling a sedan, the Fluence, customized to use the stations, priced in Israel at roughly $32,000, comparable to other sedans sold here. Currently, about 140 are on the road, most driven by Better Place employees.
By 2017, Shai Agassi expects 50 percent of all new car sales in Israel to be electric.
Source: Business Week.
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