Better Place puts pedal to the metal in pursuit of expansion

Shai Agassi's ambitious vision of providing a global network of battery swap stations capable of driving electric vehicles into the mainstream received a major boost over the weekend with news that his Better Place company has secured agreements that will see 92 corporate fleet operators in Israel purchase electric vehicles over the next few years.

The companies, including global giants such as Computer Associates and Motorola, have agreed to replace a chunk of their fleet of more than 45,000 internal combustion engine cars with electric vehicles from the Renault-Nissan Alliance designed to work with Better Place's planned battery swap stations.

The company also announced that Israeli gas station operator Dor Alon has agreed to install battery swap systems at its facilities, further bolstering Agassi's plan to establish his native Israel as a test market for Better Place's recharging model.

Speaking to Reuters at the official opening of the company's first demonstration centre in Tel Aviv, Agassi said the partnerships with fleet operators covered half the fleet cars in Israel. "By 2020 there will be more electric cars sold per year than gas cars," he predicted.

Better Place is currently busy laying the ground work ahead of the launch next year of the Renault-Nissan vehicle.

Agassi said large numbers of charging stations were being installed in the company's second main test market of Denmark, adding that he also expected tens of thousands of stations to be installed in Israel by next year.

The company plans to implement battery swap facilities at gas stations, while also installing recharging technologies at the homes of motorists who purchase the new electric vehicles.

Prices for the vehicles are due to be announced later this year, but Agassi hinted that when tax breaks are taken into account the cars are likely to prove cheaper than traditional internal combustion engine models.

The official opening of the new demonstration centre, which will allow potential customers to test-drive electric vehicles, comes just weeks after Better Place secured a $350m cash injection led by HSBC and Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

"We think there will be extremely large demand and Better Place can rapidly achieve profitability," HSBC's Mark Norbury told reporters over the weekend. " We like Better Place's business model."