Israeli unveils ambitious plan to shift transportation to electric

Project Better Place

With 700 million cars driving on the world's roads, releasing anestimated 2.8 billion tons of CO2 pollution annually, it doesn't takea genius to understand that the world is rapidly heading for anenvironmental disaster. What it does take, however, is someone daringenough to tackle that challenge - one of the biggest facing mankindtoday - head on.

Israeli entrepreneur Shai Agassi is that man. The 39-year-old formerSAP executive has come up with an ambitious plan to shake up the autoindustry by encouraging consumers worldwide to give up their heavilypolluting fossil fuel cars and purchase electric cars instead.

Agassi's new company, Project Better Place, was launched on Monday inNew York. The company, which raised $200 million - making it one ofthe largest initial fundings for a start-up in history - plans toestablish a widespread grid of electric charging spots at currentparking locations, as well as battery exchange stations to provideconsumers with the energy to keep their electric cars charged and onthe roads without the need to wait for electricity at any point.
This is crucial. One of the drawbacks of electric cars today is thatthey can only drive 100 miles on a single electrical charge. BetterPlace aims to create a new regional and global infrastructure tosupport electric vehicles on a country-by-country basis, in effectjump-starting mass adoption of electric cars.

Agassi, who founded TopTier Software in Israel in 1992 and later soldit to SAP in 2001, will serve as CEO of the new entity, while IdanOfer, chairman of Israel Corp., will serve as chairman of the board.

"Project Better Place offers a compelling business and environmentalcase for how to address global energy and transportation challenges,"said Ofer, whose company traditionally invests in oil refineries,ocean tankers and chemicals.
In its first phase, Better Place, will focus on establishing arepeatable framework, implementing electric recharge grids throughlocal operating companies in multiple countries. In addition, thecompany hopes to partner with carmakers, technology providers, andglobal and local financing institutions so that consumers whosubscribe to the network can get subsidized vehicles that are cheaperto buy and operate than today's fuel-based cars.

Think of it like a mobile-phone provider today. Agassi's companyhopes to sell or lease electric cars to consumers in packages thatinclude monthly service fees. The whole system, called a smart grid,will be coordinated by networking software developed by programmersfrom Better Place.

The company is currently in discussions with various governments toestablish pilot sites in a few countries next year, and will deployand test this framework over the next 24 months in a variety oflaunch markets. In 2010, it plans to deploy hundreds of thousands ofvehicles annually, across multiple markets. Agassi believes thantipping-point saturation in early markets will happen within 10 yearsof rollout.