Project Better Place debuts electric car

Israeli-backed electric car firm Project Better Place has debuted a demonstration version of its swappable-battery electric car, announcing it is on track to deliver several hundred of the vehicles as part of a pilot scheme next year with a full rollout set for 2010.

The company said the fully electric car - which was praised by AutoblogGreen as one of the "quickest vehicles to go from concept to a public, drivable prototype in automotive history" - will have a range of between 160km and 200km and will go from zero to 60 miles per hour in eight seconds.

Shai Agassi, founder and chief executive of Project Better Place, told Reuters that he expects that the Renault-Nissan alliance, which has developed the battery and car, will invest $500m to $1bn in the project over the next three years as it scales up production of the vehicle.

Meanwhile the project, which has raised $200m in venture backing, is to begin work on nationwide recharging networks in Israel and Denmark from later this year.

The two networks are expected to feature hundreds of thousands of charging points at offices and homes, and hundreds of battery swap stations where drivers will be able to swap-in fully charged lithium ion batteries in the same amount of time it takes to fill a petrol tank.

Agassi added that the Danish network would be powered using wind energy, while the Israeli network would draw energy from new solar farms.