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Electric Cars, And Chargers, Poised to Flood Israel
Shai Agassi boldly predicts one-third of Israel’s cars will run on electricity within five years. It would be an outlandish claim if the entrepreneur hadn’t lined up a sweet plan to jump-start the country’s adoption of EVs. Agassi’s Silicon Valley startup Better Place has signed a deal under which 92 corporate fleet owners will replace their conventional vehicles with electric vehicles when their leases begin expiring next year. What’s more, Better Place has forged a partnership with Dor Alon, one of Israeli’s largest gas station chains, to deploy its battery swap technology. We’ll see the first of the Renault electrics on the road in 2011, and they’ll plug into one of the dozens of charging stations Better Place is erecting or change their batteries in about the time it takes to fill your gas tank.

Electric cars to hit Israeli roads in 2011
At least 45,000 electric cars will be running on Israeli roads within five years, according to a company called Better Place which is building networks of charging stations in Israel, Denmark and Australia. Better Place said on Sunday it had signed up 92 corporate fleet owners in Israel to rotate in electric vehicles when leases expire in coming years. Cars will start running under the programme in Israel in 2011. "That's one-third of the fleet and half the fleet cars," Shai Agassi, Better Place's founder and chief executive, told Reuters after an event to open a centre in Israel to showcase the prototype cars and its electric technology.

For Hawaii, big push to go green is natural
Tiny Hawaii is gunning for the title of the nation's green energy capital. It's aiming to obtain 70% of its total energy needs from clean sources within 20 years. That ambitious target blows the solar panels off California's mandate to get a third of its electricity from renewables by 2020. But Hawaiian officials have concluded their state has little choice. This tropical paradise is an energy beggar that depends almost solely on oil to fuel its vehicles and stoke its power plants. That's left the state, which doesn't produce a drop of crude, vulnerable to spills, price swings and geopolitics. Hawaii residents already pay the highest pump prices and electricity rates in the country. The state imports around 51 million barrels of oil, costing billions annually, according to government figures.

Interview: Sidney Goodman, Vice President, Automotive Alliances, Better Place
Here we publish the first part of an interview with Sidney Goodman, in which he outlines his role at Better Place, the mechanics of an "Automotive Alliance", and the challenges of pitching a new business model for the automotive industry to established vehicle manufacturers.

U.S. pledges 17 percent emissions reduction by 2020
The United States pledged Thursday to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels under an international climate agreement, though it made its commitment contingent on passing legislation at home. The Obama administration submitted its much-anticipated reduction target to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat under the Copenhagen Accord, a non-binding deal brokered by the United States last month at the U.N.-sponsored climate talks. Under the deal President Obama helped secure in Copenhagen, major emitters of greenhouse gases are expected to "inscribe" their reduction targets by Jan. 31.

[Video] Shai Agassi interviewed on Fox News from Davos
"I just sat down with one of the most in-demand people at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Shai Agassi, CEO of "Better Place." His dream of building a vast network of charging stations for electric cars just got an energy surge in the form of $350 million in financing from a group led by HSBC, along with Lazard and Morgan Stanley. Monday, they signed on the dotted line in what is the largest clean-tech financing deal in history."

Spotlight shines green at Washington Auto Show
Automakers at the Washington Auto Show on Tuesday touted their aggressive plans to rapidly bring plug-in electric vehicles to market. General Motors Co. confirmed it would spend $246 million to design and build electric motors, adding 200 jobs at its Baltimore Transmission plant in White Marsh, Md. Ford Motor Co. President and CEO Alan Mulally promoted his company's electrification plans at the show, but said the company has no plans to build its own electric motors. It will leave that job to its suppliers.

[Video] Better Place’s electric car system gets bank backing
A company developing a battery switching station for electric vehicles has just announced that it has won an equity financing deal worth $350m. When they are built, drivers will visit the stations to swap their depleted packs for new ones. They will be launched in Denmark and Israel next year to support the new Renault range of battery cars. Shai Agassi is chief executive of Better Place, which designed the system.

Sites to Refuel Electric Cars Gain a Big Dose of Funds
Better Place, the closely watched start-up that hopes to create vast networks of charge spots to power electric cars, is set to receive a vote of confidence on Monday, in the form of $350 million in new venture capital. Although Better Place will most likely require billions more in financing, this investment is an important step for the company and its chief, Shai Agassi, an Israeli-American software executive who founded the company in 2007.

The electric car revolution will soon take to the streets
Electric cars are a green movement that is finally moving. Shunted to the side as the public indulged its love affair with gas-guzzling SUVs and four-wheel-drive trucks, history has finally caught up with the plug-in vehicle. The North American International Auto Show in Detroit is the domestic auto industry's biggest annual showcase, and the new models have traditionally been brought out in a son et lumière of dancing girls, deafening music, and dry ice smoke. The few green cars that made it this far were usually for display only — very few actually made it to showrooms.

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