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Better Place Takes Big Leap Forward with Israel Electric-Car Pilot
Better Place, the electric car start-up, made clear when it unveiled its first vehicle demo center near Tel Aviv this week that far more is at stake in its Israel transportation trial than green clout. Better Place builds the charging infrastructure for electric cars and sells vehicles made by Renault and its partner, Nissan. In 2008, Israel's leaders vowed tax breaks for purchasers of the clean cars. Now it is the public's turn to give its verdict. At the Better Place demo center, drivers will be able to take the prototype electric car for a spin. "Every one of them will sign up," a confident Agassi told reporters.The venture-backed firm, launched in 2007 and based in Palo Alto, Calif., aims to create networks of electric cars worldwide. Deals have been announced in other densely packed "transportation islands," as Agassi calls them, in Denmark, Australia, San Francisco, Hawaii, the west coast of Canada, along with a small taxi scheme in Japan.

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.

Spain Power Grid Can Feed 10M Electric Cars-Iberdrola Chmn
Spain's electricity system can supply power to some 10 million electric cars if charging were to be made at night when general demand is low, Ignacio Galan, chairman of electricity company Iberdrola SA (IBE.MC), said Tuesday. A gradual buildup of an electric car fleet will help the European Union to reach its targets for greenhouse gas emission cuts and renewable power penetration, he added. Galan spoke during a meeting with European Union competition ministers in the northern Spanish city of San Sebastian, Iberdrola said in a release. The EU targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions until 2020 by 20% from 1990 levels, and wants renewables to provide 20% of the union's overall power supply in 2020. Galan cautioned, however, that electric cars still need to overcome hurdles related to batteries, the buildup of a recharge system, and regulation. If electric cars were to be charged at night, they could help the penetration of renewable power, Galan said. Spain has one of the world's highest percentages of renewable power as part of overall electricity production. Iberdrola, based in Bilbao, northern Spain, is the world's biggest wind-power generator.

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.

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