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EVWORLD TELEVISION |
Shai Agassi at Web 2.0
By EV World
Founder of Project Better Place on the rationale behind his electric car business model.
John Battelle sits down with Shai Agassi at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco last week to candidly talk about his concept of building a vast network of electric car charging and battery swapping stations.
Intriguingly, Agassi notes that using any number of different assumptions, Better Place's business model proves to be cheaper for the consumer than the current buy/lease model we have today.
This is a excellent discussion that is well worth the 33-minutes it takes to watch if you're interested in how Better Place may revolutionize personal mobility in the coming age of the electric car.
Be sure to also see EV World's exclusive interview with Agassi, as well as our EV World Television webcast with Sven Thesen, Better Place's Manager for Strategic Operations.
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Reader Comments
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4 comments so far...
17-Nov-2008
64922
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There is no way that battery cost plus charge is less that the cost of ICE plus fuel. Now perhaps a charge as you drive on the interstate might be workable. The car would have a 60 mile range (maybe with something like Firefly Energy’s lead acid batteries) but would maybe have a LIM and would recharge whenever you drive on the interstate in a special lane.
Posted by: jw ogden
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13-Nov-2008
64891
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Interesting interview. Shai Agassi really is a well spoken and charming guy and he needs to be since he intends to pocket the money that presently flows into the pockets of the big oil companies/countries himself in a revolutionary shift he intends to bring about from ICE cars to BEV's. A few in my opinion crucial questions I missed though. First: how can he guarantee investors a good return on their investment in a dense infrastructure of recharging points and an additional infrastructure of battery swap stations in a world in which breakthroughs in battery technology happen almost on a daily basis? Clearly the ideal battery has no need for his infrastructure since it would provide long range a short recharging time. No need for anybody to pay any money to Mr. Agassi any more: you recharge at home or at a low density grid of high current recharge stations. Second: the mobile phone business model maybe a clever way to work your way around high battery cost by hiding them in monthly contributions and a charge per mile but what if new technology makes batteries cheaper? Wouldn't many people prefer to just pay the old fashioned way for their car and batteries rather than depend on a glorified pay in instalments scheme? Third: How does the credit crunch affect a business model that's basically a huge car-finance plan? It seems to me that Mr. Agassi's business model only makes sense if we accept that no major breakthroughs in battery technology are to be expected in the next decades. Or alternatively if he resorts to the strategy the oil companies he seeks to replace have always resorted to: pre-empt such technology.
Posted by: Chris O
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13-Nov-2008
64895
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Another angle on Chris O.'s point is the prospect of PHEVs, which may accomplish 90% of what an all-electric can do at a much lower cost.
There are basically two ways to get around the range problems of electric vehicles; a big charging infrastructure (including battery swapping stations) or PHEVs.
Personally, I don't see why PHEVs wouldn't be a less expensive option, and would not require such a product-specific infrastructure.
Posted by: Jim Beyer
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14-Nov-2008
64906
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Jim Beyer's point about on board generators (serial PHEV) being a more economic alternative to a dense PBP-style charging infrastructure occurred to me too until I heard GM's projections of the price of their Volt. At $40K it's about $20K more expensive than Honda's new Insight hybrid. Roughly calculating it would take about $ 250/barrel oil to make the Volt an economically viable proposal. On the other hand one should bear in mind that there is a reason why the Volt is the only new model that isn't put on ice by cash strapped GM: it's not really aimed at the consumer market but at the political market of tax credits and bail out money. For lack of comparison it's unclear what it really costs to build a PHEV like the Volt. This may become clear though when BYD launches it's F3DM PHEV. Unfortunately for GM it's scheduled to hit the market way before the Volt (they actually recently announced launch in late 2008). If it checks out it would be another nail in GM's coffin. And Shai Agassi's PBP's.
Posted by: Chris O
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