Electric Cars on Israeli Roads by End of 2011
Better Place LLC, a U.S. start-up developing charging stations, expects thousands of electric cars using their product on Israeli roads by the second half of 2011, chief executive officer and founder Shai Agassi said.
“We are starting a country-wide test nine months from now,” Agassi said today at the opening of a Tel Aviv center that gives visitors a chance to drive an electric car. “By the second half of 2011 we will open for consumers a full commercial launch after which 1,000 cars a month will come into the market.”
The company chose Israel because it is “a small country but big enough to test a longer drive,” and due to its “high desire to get off oil for geopolitical reasons,” Agassi said.
Better Place, based in Palo Alto, California, is seeking to take advantage of plans by automakers such as Nissan Motor Co., Renault SA, General Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. to offer rechargeable electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries.
Mark Norbury, associate director for global special opportunities at HSBC Holdings PLC, which led a $350 million investment in the company announced last month, said Better Place “can rapidly achieve scale and profitability.” He added that the main time component will be how fast Renault can build the cars.
Renault has a contract to make 100,000 electric cars by 2016, said Nicolas Remise, the deputy program director.
Better Place has signed agreements in Israel with 92 companies that lease vehicles for employees, a potential initial market of 45,000 cars, Agassi said.
After the initial entrance of about 1,000 cars a month, Better Place will “open the floodgates,” he added. His brother Tal, who is head of global deployment, said he expected the majority of cars on Israeli roads to be electric by 2020.
Reducing Israel’s dependence on petroleum is “one of the state’s vital interests,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the beginning of today’s Cabinet meeting in which a task force was established to formulate a national plan to deal with the issue.
Israel Corp., a holding company that invests in energy, said last month it will invest an additional $72 million in Better Place, bringing its stake to 30 percent.
“We believe this is the way for the future,” Idan Ofer, chairman of Israel Corp., said of the investment in Better Place and other clean energy companies. “This is actually the biggest business opportunity I can see for the next 20 years.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at +972-2-640-1106 or gackerman@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg at +972-2-640-1104 or phirschberg@bloomberg.net
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