Tariq Nelson

Hawaii is looking to provide leadership in moving away from dependence on foreign oil and toward a green economy. The state recently signed a contract with Better Place to begin to install the infrastructure for the electric cars expected to hit the market in a few years. This could be a beta test for what can be done across the country.  Companies like Better Place, LLC could be a good long term investment as we move toward a ‘green’ economy.

The State of Hawaii and the Hawaiian Electric Company on Tuesday endorsed an effort to build an alternative transportation system based on electric vehicles with swappable batteries and an “intelligent” battery recharging network.

The plan, the brainchild of the former Silicon Valley software executive Shai Agassi, is an effort to overcome the major hurdles to electric cars — slow battery recharging and limited availability.

By using existing electric car technologies, coupled with an Internet-connected web of tens of thousands of recharging stations, he thinks his company, Better Place L.L.C. of Palo Alto, Calif., will make all-electric vehicles feasible.

Mr. Agassi has succeeded in assembling a growing consortium of national governments, regional planning organizations and one major car company. Tuesday’s announcement follows earlier endorsements from Israel, Denmark, Australia, Renault-Nissan and a coalition of Northern California localities supporting the idea leading to the deployment of an electric vehicle with a range of greater than 100 miles, beginning at the end of 2010 in Israel. The company plans test deployments of vehicles in 2009 and broad commercial sales in 2012.

Mr. Agassi has raised $200 million in private financing for his idea. In October, he obtained a commitment from the Macquarie Capital Group to raise an additional $1 billion for an Australian project.

[...]

Mr. Agassi has argued that even if oil prices continued to decline, his electric recharging network — which ideally would use renewable energy sources like solar and wind — could provide competitively priced energy for a new class of vehicles.

He supposes that his network idea will be appropriate first for “island” economies that typically have significantly higher energy costs, and then will become more cost-competitive as it is scaled up.

[...]

In late November, the mayors of San Francisco and other major Bay Area cities endorsed the Better Place network to help create an electric recharging network by 2012. The company estimates that it will cost $1 billion to build a charging network in the Bay Area that may create as many as half a million charging stations.

Shai Agassi said regarding the bailout

“We’re showing DC and Detroit a model for Car 2.0. They have been stuck on Car 1.0. We’re demonstrating the future of the industry. Electric car. Different business model. This can be done in America with the technologies we have today. It can be done while making a profit for everybody. No bailouts required.”

This is a speech he gave here in Washington, DC

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6115647726887047092

Filed under: Changing World