In a blog on LinkedIn Influencers, Better Place founder and former CEO Shai Agassi has staunchly defended the troubled electric car venture.
He wrote, "We installed 40 battery switch stations across Israel and 20 more across Denmark. Those stations allowed electric vehicles to simply switch batteries when drivers ran out of juice but wanted to keep driving. By not asking drivers to buy an expensive battery, and simply paying for the miles they drove, we made electric cars cheaper and more convenient than comparable gasoline sedans. The cost of such network? Less than one week of gasoline in Israel. The same ratio holds true to the US as well."
He added, "Israeli drivers already drive millions of electric miles on this system without burning a single drop of imported oil. They are measurably more satisfied than gasoline car drivers, or EV drivers in other countries. In fact, Better Place will sell roughly 1% of the new cars sold this March in Israel, following two months of 0.5% and 0.7%. These sales figures happen despite negligible financial incentives from the Israeli government for EVs. To put that in perspective - while it is an unfair comparison, Toyota took 15 years to reach 1% of global new car sales with the Prius."
Agassi was responding to a blog by David Brooks in the "New York Times" attacking innovative ideas like Better Place in favor of the traditional energy industry.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 24, 2013
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